Lando Norris won the first race of the season in Australia, proving that McLaren has started on the right foot. With composure and a cool head, the Briton managed to dominate the race and withstand the pressure from Max Verstappen, who was breathing down his neck.
At this pace, McLaren could replicate Red Bull’s 2023 dominance and win everything. This is the opinion of George Russell, who was impressed by the Woking team’s performance as early as qualifying.
“McLaren has such an advantage that they could stop development now and focus entirely on 2026. It will be difficult to close this gap,” admitted Mercedes’ #63.
Are the papaya boys really so strong and confident that they would abandon development to focus on next year? Lando Norris “exposes” McLaren with his latest statements.
“Max [Verstappen] was three-tenths behind. Last year, we were much further away and ended up with the best car of the season,” he said to the media in the post-race press conference in Australia. “We were more than a second behind Red Bull at the start of last year. Then we finished with the fastest car.”
Regarding his Mercedes rival’s comments: “I know George made some comments earlier this weekend about McLaren being able to think directly about 2026. If that’s their mentality, that’s wonderful. But it’s not the right mentality. Sorry, mate,” he said, addressing George Russell. “We know we still have work to do on this year’s car.”
“If you relax in this position, you fail. In Formula 1, if you start thinking that everything is great and fantastic, then you’re screwed.”
Lando Norris tempers the excitement and remains grounded; now, it remains to be seen whether George Russell’s predictions will come true again—just as they did in 2023 with Red Bull.
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