Lando Norris turned one of the McLaren MCL40’s potential weaknesses into a major advantage at the Madring, using the car’s shorter gearing to help beat Andrea Kimi Antonelli to Spanish Grand Prix pole position by just 0.011 seconds. On Madrid’s highly technical layout, the McLaren was able to exploit stronger acceleration through the slower sections, with Norris frequently running one gear higher than the Mercedes driver around the lap.
The reigning world champion described his final Q3 effort as one of his finest laps, but there was more behind the result than driver performance alone. McLaren had struggled to find the ideal setup earlier in qualifying before bringing the package together at precisely the right moment, allowing Norris to snatch pole from Antonelli when the Mercedes driver may have believed his own lap was already enough for first place. Norris’ remarkable final effort has already been detailed in his reaction to securing the first Madring pole position.
How McLaren’s shorter gearing helped Lando Norris in Madrid
When the difference is only 0.011 seconds, it is almost impossible to identify one single factor that decided the result. However, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has never hidden that the MCL40 tends to perform best on circuits featuring plenty of corners and relatively few long straights.
Madrid fits that profile particularly well. It therefore should not be surprising that Norris has now claimed three of the last four Formula 1 pole positions. More strikingly, all 14 poles so far in the 2026 season have been secured by cars using Mercedes power units, whether from the works team or its customers.
The differences between Mercedes and McLaren therefore have to be found elsewhere, and one of the most important details is the gearbox. McLaren’s engineers have opted for shorter gear ratios than Mercedes, a design choice that has brought disadvantages at faster circuits but proved useful around the Madring.
Unlike tracks dominated by long straights, Madrid continually alternates acceleration, partial throttle and braking phases. That places a greater premium on smooth power delivery and strong acceleration out of the slower corners, characteristics that can favour McLaren’s shorter gearing.
Norris could use eighth gear more often than Kimi Antonelli
In practical terms, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were able to use eighth gear on both of the circuit’s main high-speed sections. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, by comparison, only reached eighth on the second fast section towards Turn 3.
More generally, the McLaren drivers were able to run one gear higher at numerous points around the Madring. That allowed the MCL40 to produce particularly strong acceleration through the slower parts of the lap and helped Norris exploit the car’s characteristics when it mattered most in Q3.
This difference also influenced how the two cars managed electrical energy. Mercedes used more energy on the first straight, while McLaren concentrated more deployment on the second, where the speed difference over the W17 reached around 12 km/h.
Energy distribution has emerged as one of the defining technical themes of the Madrid weekend. Teams had already spent practice trying to optimise deployment around the unusual circuit, with McLaren identifying battery deployment and efficiency as key areas in its battle with Mercedes.
La Monumental highlights the McLaren-Mercedes difference
Another revealing comparison comes through La Monumental, Madrid’s spectacular 550-metre banked corner with a maximum banking angle of 24%.
Lando Norris could select sixth gear almost immediately as he entered the banking, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli had to travel several metres further after beginning to turn before making the same upshift.
During the opening part of the corner, the McLaren was running roughly 1,000rpm higher and carried around 6 km/h more speed. The picture then reversed during the second half of La Monumental, where the Mercedes W17 became more efficient and was approximately 2 km/h faster through the corner.
The comparison highlights why neither car held an absolute advantage around the full lap. Instead, their performance came from different areas, with McLaren particularly effective in acceleration phases and Mercedes recovering performance elsewhere.
McLaren’s shorter wheelbase may also have helped Norris
Another technical characteristic that may have worked in Lando Norris’ favour is the MCL40’s shorter wheelbase. The McLaren is around 15 centimetres shorter than the Mercedes according to the comparison, helping make the papaya car particularly reactive through chicanes and rapid changes of direction.
That agility is especially valuable at the Madring, where repeated direction changes reward a car that can rotate quickly and respond immediately to driver input. What can represent an aerodynamic compromise or stability trade-off at faster circuits becomes much more useful on a tightly packed layout dominated by corners.
McLaren had already adjusted its package specifically for Madrid, including changing its aerodynamic configuration as the Madring demanded greater downforce and stability. The combination of that setup work, shorter gearing and the MCL40’s compact dimensions gave Norris a package capable of challenging Mercedes despite the works team appearing stronger through practice.
Qualifying may have decided much of the Spanish GP battle
For Sunday’s race, a large part of the work may already have been completed in qualifying. Overtaking around the Madring is expected to be extremely difficult, to the point that even a car with a pace advantage of a couple of seconds may struggle to create a genuine passing opportunity.
The start could therefore prove decisive, particularly with Norris and Antonelli separated by almost nothing in outright pace. Tyre wear is the other major variable.
There is little reliable long-run data available from the weekend, adding uncertainty to how the race will develop. McLaren had already identified tyre behaviour as one of its biggest Madrid concerns, making degradation and strategic timing particularly important.
The track should also continue to rubber in as the race progresses. That could allow teams to extend their later stints significantly compared with the opening phase of the Grand Prix, potentially bringing a one-stop strategy into play for those able to control degradation.
For Norris, however, the crucial advantage is already secured: track position. McLaren found a circuit where its shorter gearing, acceleration and agility could turn characteristics that have sometimes hurt the MCL40 into genuine strengths. Against Antonelli and Mercedes, that transformation was worth only 0.011 seconds – but in qualifying at the Madring, that was enough.
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