Lando Norris said he hopes George Russell and Kimi Antonelli continue their battles on track this season, as it could help McLaren further down the line in a similar way his and Oscar Piastri\u2019s battling inadvertently aided Max Verstappen in 2025.<\/p>\n
The reigning world champion acknowledged his team had a start \u201con the back foot\u201d to begin the season, though teammate Piastri raced to the podium at Suzuka in what could have been a race victory, barring an ill-timed Safety Car from the Australian\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
Lando Norris: \u2018The more Mercedes battle, the better\u2019<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust.<\/p>\n With Russell being the senior driver at Mercedes in age and experience, it was expected that he would continue his head-to-head form over Antonelli, with the young Italian still gathering experience in the sport.<\/p>\n Russell took victory in the Australian Grand Prix and Sprint in Shanghai, though Antonelli has managed to take the early Drivers\u2019 Championship lead with the first pole positions and grand prix victories of his Formula 1 career.<\/p>\n McLaren, though, is looking to be back in the fight sooner rather than later, with team principal Andrea Stella having hinted at pretty much an all-new car come the Canadian Grand Prix, such is the rate of development in the early stages of these regulations.<\/p>\n After Piastri\u2019s podium, too, there is underlying performance within the MCL40 and, despite an early deficit to Mercedes, Norris knows from experience that teammate battles can help open the door for others to join the fight.<\/p>\n What is coming up next this season?<\/p>\n F1 schedule: When is the next F1 race and where is it being held?<\/a><\/p>\n F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying records between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s hope so,\u201d Norris told PlanetF1.com and others with a smile, when asked about if McLaren can profit from the Mercedes duo fighting on track.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly, the more that they can battle, the better.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s good to see. Kimi is in his second year in F1, so he\u2019s doing a good job. It\u2019s also cool to see. He\u2019s a very nice guy, and he\u2019s performing well at the top level in Formula 1.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s had a good few races, so it\u2019s good to see that he\u2019s kind of found that extra bit of pace and battling George convincingly, which is cool, but it\u2019s a good thing for us.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know we were a little bit on the back foot at the beginning of the season. We certainly hope that we can catch up, and the more points they can take away from each other, the better \u2013 the same like us [he and Piastri, ed.] last year and Max in a fight.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully it can be a similar story the other way around.\u201d<\/p>\n Norris heads back to the scene of his first race victory in Formula 1 in Miami next weekend, with the Briton holding an early 47-point deficit to the Mercedes teenager in the standings.<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n