Can McLaren already look ahead to 2026? "That's not the right mentality," says Norris

McLaren dealt a serious psychological blow to its rivals last weekend in Melbourne. Expected to be the favorite after satisfactory winter testing, the British team dominated the debates in Australia, and by far! With an all-papaya front row and a victory for Lando Norris, the world champions dominated the first round of the season. And again, without the error ofOscar piastri In the rain, the Woking team was heading straight for a one-two. This dominance was all the more impressive given that in qualifying on Saturday, the McLaren drivers were almost half a second ahead of the competition!

This is enough to disgust some of their rivals, notably George Russell. The Briton, who finished 4th in qualifying and 3rd in the race on Sunday, felt on Saturday evening that McLaren could already focus on its 2026 car – with the arrival of the new technical regulations – while winning both world titles, given their significant lead over their rivals. "If you have a six-tenths advantage at the start of the season, no one will find six-tenths throughout the year. So McLaren is in a great position for today and for the future.", the pilot had confided Mercedes, fatalistic.

McLaren has "still a lot of work to do on the car"

However, for the main parties involved, there is no question of resting on their laurels, quite the contrary. For Lando Norris, everything can still change in this long season of 24 Grand Prix… like what happened with Red Bull in 2024. "Max was three tenths back [on Saturday]. Last year we were much further back [but] we ended up having the best car at the end of the season, recalls the winner of the Australian GPWe were more than half a second behind Red Bull at the start of last year, and we ended up having the quickest car."

“I know George made comments at the beginning of the weekend, saying that we can already focus on 2026. If that’s their mentality, that’s wonderful, but it’s not the right mentality to have, adds Lando Norris, who does not want to look ahead to 2026 too soon.We know we still have a lot of work to do on this year's car. If you relax in this position, you fail. Formula 1, if you start thinking everything is fine, that's when you get caught out."

McLaren would not have won in Bahrain, says Norris

Lando Norris also believes that McLaren's strong start to the season is due to the fact that the opening round took place in Melbourne this year, rather than Bahrain as has been the case in recent years. Since the introduction of the current regulations in 2022, the British team has never performed to its best advantage at the Sakhir circuit, and 2025 would have been no exception, according to the championship leader.

"I think we're the favorites because the team has done an extraordinary job and the car is flying. But we'll have races where we'll struggle. If we had started the season in Bahrain, I don't think we would have won and I wouldn't be asked that question, believes the Englishman, who advocates patience before judging each person's performanceLet's let a few more races run before drawing any conclusions." In China, on a more traditional circuit and in dry conditions (no rain forecast this weekend in Shanghai), the hierarchy should be a little clearer at the start of the 2025 season. If McLaren is still in front with the same lead as in Melbourne, then the championship could quickly turn orange...

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