Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris has warned that McLaren’s 2026 challenger may not yet have the race pace firepower that carried him to glory last season.
After dominating the final year of the previous rules cycle, McLaren now faces a stark reality check in pre-season testing, although Norris may also be keeping his cards close to his chest.
So far, team papaya’s MCL40 has shown promising potential in terms of sheer speed. However, McLaren’s new-generation car has yet to demonstrate the rear tyre management mastery that allowed Norris to drive strategically, preserve tyres, and strike when rivals faltered last season.
In 2025, Norris could often play a game of cat and mouse, knowing his car’s superior tyre degradation would bail him out of almost any situation.
But as the sun dipped behind the Sakhir paddock on Thursday, the champion was blunt about the current state of play. When asked if the team had successfully carried over their race-pace magic to the new chassis, his response was a sobering reality check.
“From what we see at the minute, no,” Norris admitted. “Yeah, I mean, last year, we also had just a pace advantage. So going into the race, we could almost drive slower, things worked better, and then we could drive quicker.”
©McLaren
That luxury of driving "slow" to win fast appears to have evaporated. While Mercedes has been blistering the tarmac, topping both days of the second test, McLaren is finding that the harder they try to keep up, the more they hurt themselves.
Pushing Into the Red
The technical shift of 2026 was designed to reset the field, and it seems to have stripped McLaren of their greatest weapon: rear-end stability and thermal management.
To match the front-runners now, Norris is forced to overdrive the MCL40, creating a vicious cycle of sliding and overheating.
“At the minute, we're a little bit off,” Norris explained. “So to match the race pace of some of the others, we have to push a bit more, and then we have more degradation.
“So not entirely [have we carried over last year’s race pace], but I'm sure there are some things, I know there are some things that were our strengths last year that will continue to be our strengths this season.”
©McLaren
Despite Oscar Piastri managing to haul himself into second place by the end of Thursday’s session, the underlying numbers suggest the "Sunday Specialist" tag might be slipping away.
“But you know, it's a lot of work just to get the balance in a good window,” Norris continued.
“The car worked very well last year, was difficult to understand, but worked well. And it's still just very, very early days for this car at the minute.
Read also: Bahrain F1 test: Antonelli and Mercedes fastest on Day 5
“So we'll be continuing to look into that. Of course, I would love that because even when we had a bad quality, we knew we'd have a good Sunday. And that was always something to look forward to.”
With the season opener looming, the champion’s message to Woking is clear: the safety net is gone.
“So, the team are working hard on every area that includes race pace, tyre cooling, all of those things. But at the minute, yeah, we just kind of got to improve in most areas.”
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