The 2025 Formula 1 season began in dream-like fashion for McLaren, with Lando Norris taking the win at the Australian Grand Prix and then settling for second behind teammate Oscar Piastri at the Chinese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
2026 has been something quite different for the team.<\/p>\n
Piastri crashed on the reconnaissance at the Australian Grand Prix this year, and after suffering a mechanical fault on his MCL40 he could not start the Chinese Grand Prix, and he arrived in Suzuka for this weekend\u2019s Japanese Grand Prix yet to turn a single lap in a Grand Prix this season. As for Norris, while he finished fifth in Melbourne, he too endured a failure prior to the beginning of the Chinese Grand Prix, and did not start the race.<\/p>\n
As a result, the defending Constructors\u2019 Champions currently sit third in the standings with 18 points, well off the pace set by both Mercedes and Ferrari.<\/p>\n
Still, Norris sees the \u201cpotential\u201d in this season\u2019s challenger, despite the uneven start to the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car has a lot of potential,\u201d said Norris during the FIA Press Conference ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re certainly not where we wanted to be, but I think \u2026 the real question you probably ask is would I rather be here and have won last year, or would I rather have a slightly better car now and not have won last year, and I think you know what my answer would be.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, you can\u2019t have the best of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defending Drivers\u2019 Champion then turned to the gap between McLaren and the two teams at the front.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a team we certainly are not where we want to be and where we desire to be, but I think we all know within the team what we can achieve. And now is just as good a time as ever to prove exactly what we can do as a team \u2013 against Ferrari, against Mercedes, who are performing very well at the minute. But I know all the boys and the girls back in the factory are working very hard and there\u2019s good progress happening. It takes time to improve on some things and it\u2019s not like we\u2019re bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still third-best team at the minute, but we certainly enjoy being first a lot more than third. So, time will tell. We\u2019ve got some things in the pipeline and like I said everyone\u2019s working hard, so we\u2019re ambitious to get back to the top.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norris outlined that the team, alongside Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP), has uncovered what went wrong in Shanghai.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlongside HPP, I think it took a little bit of time to figure things out, but yes,\u201d said Norris on Thursday when asked if the team has identified the issues from China. \u201cOf course it hurt us as a team, certainly didn\u2019t make us look good to have two cars not starting a race. I think what hurt more is the fact it was out of our control.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut with HPP we\u2019ve worked hard to figure things out, to understand how it happened, why it happened, and of course we\u2019ll do everything we can to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again. But you live and you learn. It was a tough one for all of us. None of us want to have a weekend like that, and especially start a Sunday like that. So yeah, it hurt a lot, but I think at the same time it\u2019s a good time for us to learn and step back and move on to this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n