The gap at the top of the drivers’ table is still 91 points. Norris does not sound worried about it.
“He should feel the pressure, that’s for sure. That will be done in like two races… or ten,” Norris told Sky Sports after ending McLaren’s win drought at the Hungaroring on 26 July.
The line came with a big smile, according to GPblog’s write-up of the interview. The message about his own state of mind was more direct.
“The pressure is on him for sure. There’s no pressure on me. I’ve been feeling very confident,” he said in the same round of interviews.
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McLaren’s ceiling has not been touched
Norris beat Max Verstappen by more than 15 seconds in Hungary and called it the best race pace of his career.
“My pace today was probably some of the best pace I’ve ever had,” he told Formula1.com. “The car was beautiful to drive and I felt very confident.”
The win lifted him to fifth in the drivers’ standings on 128 points, according to News.GP’s post-Hungary standings. Antonelli tops the table on 219, with Lewis Hamilton second on 169 and George Russell third on 160. Charles Leclerc sits fourth on 138, ahead of Norris and then Verstappen on 109.
That is the structural problem with the “title fight” line: three drivers stand between Norris and the leader. What he has on his side is the fastest car of the moment and 12 rounds still to run.
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“We just need to be perfect from here on now for the whole year,” Norris told Sky Sports. “We need to improve the car still.”
Mercedes are leaking finishes
Mercedes have taken eight of the first 11 races of 2026 but keep coughing up podium hardware to their own operational errors, as Planet F1 laid out. Antonelli went into the Hungarian weekend with a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags in Q3 after Verstappen’s spin. Russell dealt with a qualifying water leak and an anti-stall failure at the race start.
Norris framed the pattern as the opening he needed.
“They have made more mistakes as a team and we have made less and we have come strong,” he said. “But I expect them to still win races and expect us to win more races.”
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Zandvoort is the first test of the line
The championship resumes with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on 21-23 August, a sprint weekend and the last running of the race under its current contract. If Norris carries the Hungary pace to a circuit where Mercedes have historically struggled with tyre temperature, his “two races… or ten” quip will need Antonelli to answer it on track rather than in a press pen.
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