Norris names 'biggest factor' giving him confidence he can fight in second half of 2026

Lando Norris has identified the “biggest factor” giving him confidence that he can be in the fight with the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari during the remainder of the season, with the second half getting underway this weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix.

After a challenging start to the campaign for McLaren – which included a double DNS for the team at Round 2 in China – the Woking-based outfit have appeared more competitive in recent times, culminating in an impressive victory for Norris last time out in Hungary.

While the Briton conceded that the win has boosted his and the team’s hopes for what might be possible in Zandvoort, he also acknowledged that there is still further work to be done when it comes to understanding the upgrades they ran with at the Hungaroring.

“I'm never the guy who gets too far ahead of myself, so I'm not going to come in here thinking that we should just win the race again,” he explained during Thursday’s media day at the Dutch Grand Prix.

“But our goals are set high, so we want to believe we can. I think, with the new parts we had, with the new floor we had in Budapest, we just need to understand if it's just brought performance everywhere, every track, every type of surface, all types of corners, whether it was more specific to there.

“So, I think we're still patient with understanding how much performance that really brought us. But it was clear we took a step forward and that's a good sign. We still want to believe we can be very competitive here.”

Reflecting on whether the characteristics of the Dutch circuit might suit McLaren’s car, Norris added: “In some ways it's not too different [here] to Budapest, but it's also different in different ways: with the wind conditions, obviously much colder, so we have to just wait and see.

“I think it was clear what the weaknesses are of the car, what was better with the car, but the performance we had on Sunday especially, was probably almost a better performance than we had at any point last year. So I think it still shows that we can kind of ebb and flow, and still be a little bit more inconsistent than we were at times last season.

“We're still trying to understand everything perfectly with the car. But it's a track that I've enjoyed, I've always liked, and we performed well here as a team in the past. I'm hoping this weekend is the same again.”

Despite still trying to gain a full understanding of the MCL40, Norris issued an assured answer when asked what makes him feel positive about McLaren’s chances of battling at the front during the second half of the campaign.

“What are the factors? McLaren is the team I'm with. That's the biggest factor,” the World Champion responded. “The people we have, what we've achieved over the last few years and the leadership we have within the team, from, I guess, part of it from myself, but also from Andrea [Stella], from Zak [Brown], the team leaders within McLaren.

“Just everyone's in a very, very good mindset at the minute, and in the mindset you need and you have to have to fight against the best in the world, in terms of all the teams and drivers, and to fight for World Championships.

“So, my team give me plenty of reassurance. And also, if I drive as well as I did in Budapest, and I have done for a lot of this season, then I'm very confident in myself too.”