Lando Norris demands improvements as he labels McLaren’s MCL40 “undriveable”. Lando Norris delivers blunt verdict on McLaren's MCL40 after frustrating race.

Lando Norris did not hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance, expressing his frustration after another difficult outing and urging the team to make significant improvements as his Formula 1 title defence continues to prove challenging.

Speaking to the media after the race, the British driver delivered a blunt evaluation of both the team’s execution and the performance of the MCL40, making it clear that several issues are preventing McLaren from consistently fighting for podium finishes and strong points.

“Let’s get things right, once and for all, please. Just a few things, to be honest. I don’t need to go into the details, but there are areas where we simply need to do a better job. It’s pretty straightforward. These are things that are limiting our performance and our chances of scoring podiums and points when it matters, so there are aspects we have to improve as a team.”

Norris admitted that the final result did not accurately reflect the car’s true competitiveness.

“Apart from the result, everything else was pretty shocking. Honestly, I don’t know how we managed to finish fourth today.”

Reflecting on the race, Lando Norris acknowledged that reliability had played a crucial role in the outcome.

“A big part of today was reliability. I don’t know what happened to Kimi and Max, but a huge part of racing is simply avoiding mistakes and having a reliable car. We got that part right today, but our pace was pretty poor, so it wasn’t enjoyable.”

The McLaren driver then delivered perhaps his strongest criticism yet of the MCL40.

“It’s not a nice car to drive. It’s one of the hardest Formula 1 cars I’ve ever driven. There are so many things we need to work on. We’ve been slow all year.”

Norris also questioned how the team could have gone from being competitive earlier in the season to struggling so much now.

“At Miami, the others probably just didn’t do a very good job, I guess. There’s no way we can finish second in Miami and then have a car like this today. The other teams have brought a lot of upgrades since then, while somehow we haven’t—or at least nothing that has given us that kind of performance. I don’t know. Honestly, the car was simply undriveable.”