News Summary
- Lando Norris believes his driving has improved in 2026, even though McLaren is no longer consistently fighting for victories.
- The reigning world champion says tiny differences in performance can determine whether a driver wins a race or finishes outside the podium.
- Norris believes adapting to the new generation of F1 cars has required additional skills, particularly in managing the power unit.
Lando Norris believes he is delivering some of the best performances of his Formula 1 career in 2026, despite results that rarely reflect the success he enjoyed during his championship-winning season.
The McLaren driver acknowledged ahead of the Singapore GP that he has become better at extracting performance from the car, even though the team’s declining competitiveness has left him fighting for positions that would previously have represented disappointing results.
Norris won the 2025 world championship, but McLaren has struggled to maintain its place at the front following Formula 1’s major regulation changes. The Briton believes the difference between his personal performance and the car’s capabilities has made his improvement less visible to spectators.
“There’s a lot of races this year I feel like I’ve driven better and been able to extract more,” Norris said during Thursday’s FIA press conference in Singapore.
“I’m not saying that last year I did a bad job. It’s just I’m talking about being able to extract 99% versus 99.5%, and it’s just those last little things.”
Norris says tiny margins can transform a season
Norris used his qualifying performances to illustrate how small differences can change the perception of an entire weekend.
The McLaren driver pointed to three pole positions secured by extremely narrow margins, explaining that each had created an opportunity to win that might otherwise have disappeared.
“The three qualifyings I’ve been on pole have been by, I think, under a half a tenth every time,” he said.
“But those three pole positions gave me chances to win three races. If I was not on pole position, unlikely I would have won any of the races.”
For Norris, those margins demonstrate why judging a driver’s performance solely by finishing position can be misleading. A small improvement in execution may go unnoticed when the car is not competitive enough to challenge for victory, while a similarly small difference in qualifying can completely change the outcome.
He also emphasised that he had already delivered strong performances during the second half of 2025 and did not regard his championship season as technically inferior.
New F1 regulations have forced Norris to adapt
The 2026 regulations have introduced another challenge beyond extracting conventional lap time.
Norris explained that drivers must now manage the relationship between their driving technique, tyre performance and power-unit behaviour much more carefully.
“I think this year you have to drive the car in a different way, and I’ve had to adapt a lot to how you have to drive this year’s car,” he said. “And I think there’s just this kind of two skill levels to it. There’s the general skill level of just extracting performance out of the car itself, and it’s also extracting performance out of the power unit and the driving and the tyres.”
The reigning champion believes he has adapted quickly to those additional demands, even though McLaren has not consistently provided a car capable of translating that improvement into victories.
That distinction has become increasingly relevant during the second half of the championship. Oscar Piastri has already acknowledged that McLaren is no longer regularly fighting for wins, while Red Bull and Ferrari have demonstrated stronger performance in recent races.
Norris says fifth place can sometimes feel like a victory
Norris also addressed the difficulty of being judged by television viewers who may not recognise when a driver has extracted everything available from an uncompetitive car.
“Everyone in F1 is in F1 for a reason, and just because the car is not as good doesn’t mean another driver is worse or better and vice versa,” he said.
He insisted that the opinions of people outside McLaren matter less than whether he and the team believe they have maximised their performance.
“I’m not fussed if people on the outside see it as good or not. I think it’s more important that for me and my team, I’m satisfied,” Norris explained. “A win for us this weekend could be a P5 or a P3. So I think you have to acknowledge what the maximum performance for your own team is in your own car.”
That perspective reflects McLaren’s changed position in 2026. Norris remains the reigning world champion, but the team’s immediate challenge is recovering enough performance to compete regularly with Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.
The Singapore GP takes place from October 9-11, with only one practice session before Friday’s sprint qualifying.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows all the latest Formula 1 news throughout the Singapore GP weekend.
F1 today: FAQ
What time is the 2026 Singapore GP?
The Singapore GP starts at 20:00 local time on Sunday, October 11. That is 13:00 in the UK, 08:00 ET in the US and Canada and 17:30 in India. Singapore is a sprint weekend, with sprint qualifying on Friday and the sprint on Saturday.
Why does George Russell have a grid penalty in Singapore?
Russell has exhausted his permitted allocation of four engines after suffering a power-unit failure at Sepang. Mercedes must introduce another unit, triggering a grid penalty for Sunday’s Grand Prix. The penalty does not apply to Saturday’s sprint.
Can Kimi Antonelli win the F1 championship in Singapore?
No. Antonelli leads Russell by 84 points, 320 to 236, but cannot mathematically secure the 2026 title in Singapore. His first opportunity to become world champion comes at the United States GP in Austin.
Does Lando Norris believe he is driving better in 2026?
Yes. Norris believes he has improved his ability to extract performance from the car in 2026, although he also considers some of his performances during the second half of 2025 to have been equally strong.
