Lando Norris crossed the line first at the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday, then immediately talked down his own championship prospects.
“I know I’ve just won two races in a row and two poles in a row, but at the minute, I don’t have the car I need to fight for a championship,” the reigning world champion said after the race.
The verdict lined up with what he had told reporters after Saturday’s sprint at Zandvoort, where he finished third behind George Russell and Charles Leclerc.
“The car is very good in high-speed and nowhere near good enough in slow-speed,” Norris said on Saturday.
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The slow-speed problem
His race-day breakdown picked out the same weakness in more detail.
“We’re very, very strong in high speed, and that’s the place we’ve improved the car the most is high-speed performance,” he said, before adding that Mercedes’ “advantage that they have to us in slow speed is also crazy.”
“I don’t have the confidence to say, ‘Yeah, I can easily fight for a championship through the rest of the season.'”
Stella agrees, and asks for time
Team principal Andrea Stella did not push back on his driver’s read. He simply reset the timeline.
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“Before we fill this gap, you know, we have to have so many of these good weekends,” he told reporters at Zandvoort.
“Antonelli so far is very deservedly leading the championship. Mercedes is very deservedly leading the constructors.”
Stella said McLaren had already begun to chip away at the deficit by softening the rear camber overnight after a difficult sprint, and would keep bringing parts.
“I’d rather at the moment focus on executing good weekends and bringing more upgrades to the car.”
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His public tribute to Norris in the team’s race report framed the win as validation of the team’s direction since the summer break.
“Lando was on top of his game, driving like the World Champion he is, and fully deserved this victory. This victory for the team is important because it confirms the progress we made in Hungary.”
83 points off the lead
Norris moved up only to fourth in the drivers’ standings by winning at Zandvoort. Kimi Antonelli, who was second for Mercedes on Sunday, leads on 242 points; Russell and Lewis Hamilton are tied on 183, Norris is on 159, Leclerc on 155 and Max Verstappen on 112.
That leaves the reigning champion 83 points off the lead with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza next.
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Stella flagged that circuit as the next real diagnostic.
“Monza will be a very different challenge, and will help us understand further our true potential.”
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