Lando Norris acknowledged that McLaren faces substantial challenges following a difficult British Grand Prix weekend, despite securing a fourth-place finish in the main race.
After finishing third in Saturday’s Sprint race, Norris and the McLaren team struggled to keep pace with the dominant Ferrari and Mercedes outfits at their home circuit. Throughout the 52-lap race at Silverstone, Norris was never able to mount a serious challenge for the lead. However, incidents involving Kimi Räikkönen’s car problems and Max Verstappen’s spin—likely caused by a rear wing failure—allowed Norris to move up the order and claim fourth.
Reflecting on the weekend, Norris told the Formula 1 website, “Considering how not nice it’s felt out there, P4 and a P3 this weekend in the Sprint is quite remarkable, honestly. Of course, we were lucky today, but racing is also about finishing, reliability, and minimizing mistakes. I don’t know exactly what happened to Max and Kimi.”
READ MORE: Empty Keynsham Care Home to Become Much-Needed Special School
READ MORE: Ofsted Reveals Somerset Council’s Frequent Use of Unlawful Children’s Homes Amid Service Decline
He admitted that the start of Sunday’s race was disappointing and that the team needs to analyze the causes behind it. More critically, Norris highlighted the lack of pace and poor car performance as areas in urgent need of attention. “The car just wasn’t very nice in any way whatsoever today, so we have a lot to improve.”
Norris explained that the current McLaren MCL40 lacks sufficient grip and downforce, which made it difficult to handle Silverstone’s fast, flowing layout. Still, with planned upgrades on the horizon, he remains optimistic about McLaren’s ability to rebound as the season progresses.
“I’m still confident that the team can turn things around. They can build race-winning and championship-winning cars, so I’m not concerned about it. It’s just a race against time at the minute. I’m not out of the race—I don’t believe I am—but we need improvements now, not later.”
With 13 race weekends still left in the championship, Norris and McLaren are determined to elevate their performance and challenge for podiums on merit rather than relying on others’ misfortunes.