Lando Norris has delivered his verdict on McLaren’s chances of continuing its strong form at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
Norris and McLaren enjoyed a return to form in Miami, taking pole position and victory in the Sprint, with teammate Oscar Piastri finishing second.
The grand prix proved to be a different story, however, as although the MCL40 could keep pace with Mercedes, Norris failed to prevent Kimi Antonelli taking his third consecutive win.
Despite the disappointment on losing out on victory, Miami marked Norris’ and McLaren’s best weekend of the year.
Responding to a question on whether McLaren has a brighter year in prospect, he said: “Certainly.
“I think you’d have to feel silly if you don’t feel confident about the future when we improved so much this weekend,” he confirmed to media, including Motorsport Week.
“We also know it’s a track that suits us. I’m always that guy that looks at things on the slightly more glass-half-empty side, but this is a track that suits us and in the past has not suited the Mercedes quite so well.
“Yet they were still very fast, and we’re going to go to a track [in Canada] that Mercedes have probably been the best at over the last five, six years. So, we have to wait and see.”
Lando Norris urges caution after F1 Miami GP
Norris has urged caution in reading too much into McLaren’s results, stating it needs evaluate its performance across a number of tracks.
“I know we’re bringing upgrades, but in Formula 1 it’s too easy to judge things over one race,” he said.
“You need to see how you are over a number of races and different styles of track: street circuits, hot tracks, cold tracks, tight and twisty, fast circuits.
“So, there’s no point getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve had a very good weekend, I’m very proud of the team.
“But I also want to make sure they keep pushing and keep trying to improve things, because we still need that.”
Norris choosing to remain grounded after his best weekend of the season is understandable, given the rate of development in 2026.
However, if McLaren performs well in the next few races, the team will have all the ingredients it needs to challenge Mercedes.