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Lando Norris has not ruled out a title fight and says all the pressure is on Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Norris claimed McLaren’s first grand prix win of the season with an impressive performance at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday and remains fifth in the drivers’ championship, 91 points behind Antonelli with 11 rounds remaining.
Last year, Max Verstappen was 104 points off the championship lead at 10 events and fell just two points short of the title, which was won by Norris.
“There’s definitely pressure on him (Antonelli). There’s no pressure on me. I feel very confident,” Norris said. Sky Sports F1.
“They (Mercedes) made more mistakes as a team and we made less and we got stronger but I hope they still win races and we want to win more races. We have to be perfect for the whole year from now.
“We still have to improve the car. We were definitely the fastest in the race from qualifying in Hungary. Not every race is going to be that easy, and we’re going to be that fast, so we have to work hard to make the car so good everywhere.
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Highlights of the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix
McLaren brought a major upgrade packaged in Hungary, including a new floor, which gave them a big chunk of speed, able to fight at the front for most of the season.
Team principal Andrea Stella expects everyone to come up with new parts after the summer break, so McLaren will have to improve as well.
“As has always been the case in this 2026 season, it is a race of upgrades. The good news is that McLaren is now back in the race of upgrades while fighting for the lead,” he said.
“But I expect the car that will be the best car at the end of the season will continue to add tenths of a second over the next 11 races, maybe half a second. So there’s definitely a lot of work ahead for everyone, not just McLaren.”
F1 Drivers’ Championship with 11 rounds remaining
Norris defended the pit priority call in Hungary
Norris lost out to Piastre on the opening lap of Sunday’s race and stuck behind his teammate despite clearly having more speed in hand.
He eventually used that speed advantage around the second pit stop phase by outrunning Piastre and overtaking the Australian. Before that moment, Norris wanted to pit first and said on the radio that he was “mile fast”.
“I just want to win races,” Norris said at the press conference. “We have rules as a team and we can’t hurt each other’s races by being overly aggressive and wanting to win.”
“But I want to win, and I definitely had a much better pace than him. We had a much better chance to win the race, say.
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Lando Norris reacts to his first win of 2026 saying he always believed he could win and called it one of his best individual performances
“While I was stuck behind Oscar, Max was three or four seconds behind, and at that moment he is still a threat. Up front, there is no threat, and we have more guarantees that we will win as a team anyway.
“So, I wanted to box and undercut because my speed would have been so good, I could have pulled out the whole pit-stop window, I think, boxed in on him again if needed. Or I would have let him box early. I think we were on a fine line between boxing too early and damaging both of our races.
“So, it was in the best interest of the team, which they have to say exactly against me. But I definitely want to do what I can to win a race.”
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Watch the moment Lando Norris claims victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix!
Norris has generally been on top of Piastri in recent races and many feel that the British driver is performing in exactly the same way he did when he was world champion last year.
The McLaren driver is unsure why his pace advantage was so significant in Hungary but will hopefully retain the same feeling in the car after the summer break.
“The cars are the same, and I feel very strong lately. I have worked on many areas since last year,” he said.
“I’ve been feeling a lot more confident lately about how to get the performance out, and I’ve worked a lot with my engineers to understand this car because it’s definitely not an easy car to understand and how to drive consistently at the limit.
“So, why? Just hard work. Hard work from my engineers and myself to improve me as a driver and improve my driving. That’s the answer.”
The Formula 1 season resumes after the summer break with the sprint weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix from August 21-23, with each session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime
