Lando Norris insists McLaren can still win title after shaky championship defence

Lando Norris insists McLaren still has "hope" of defending its Formula 1 crown despite a brutal start to 2026 that has left the reigning champion winless through seven races and buried by reliability failures.

Why it matters:

McLaren entered the new era as the team to beat after securing Norris's 2025 title, but it has slipped to third-fastest behind Mercedes and Ferrari. The Briton's refusal to wave the white flag is critical for a squad bleeding points to technical gremlins while rival Kimi Antonelli dominates the standings. If the champions cannot stop the bleeding soon, their title defence could be mathematically finished before the summer break.

The details:

• Norris has not won any of the opening seven grands prix, with his last victory coming at the 2025 São Paulo Grand Prix. McLaren sits third in the constructors' championship, a staggering 121 points behind pace-setting Mercedes.
• The defending champion is fifth in the drivers' standings, trailing leader Kimi Antonelli by 83 points.
• Norris has salvaged podiums in Miami (second) and Barcelona (third), plus a Miami Sprint victory, but consecutive DNFs in Canada and Monaco and a failure to start the Chinese Grand Prix have torpedoed his campaign.
• Despite the setbacks, Norris maintains McLaren has the pace to win, pointing to Miami as a race the team "should have won" on merit alone.
• Reliability, not raw speed, is the core problem. Norris admits the repeated mechanical failures have "hurt a lot" against a rival that is executing flawlessly.

What's next:

Norris says the immediate goal is stacking podiums consistently, with grand prix wins to follow if the team can stabilise its package. However, he recognises the mountain ahead, noting that Antonelli and Mercedes are "not making mistakes" and delivering every weekend. McLaren must cure its power unit and mechanical woes immediately to keep its championship window open.