Lando Norris makes striking 'months' claim over McLaren F1 deficit

Lando Norris has claimed that McLaren is "two or three months behind" F1 rivals with its upgrades

Norris has suffered a spluttering defence of his world title thus far, with only two podiums from the first seven races, which have included two DNFs and a DNS in China, although he did win the Miami Sprint.

Since mid-2023, McLaren has led the F1 field in terms of bringing upgrades that successfully worked on track, but the team has not had the same strike rate in 2026, with a new front-wing first deployed in Canada being removed. 

It was reintroduced in Barcelona, with the team then opting not to run a 'Macarena' rear wing it brought for Austria through practice.

Ahead of the Austrian GP, McLaren is in third in the standings, 121 points behind leaders Mercedes, with Norris feeling that the MCL40 machine needs potentially "five" upgrades to be in contention to regularly fight at the front. 

"I want a good upgrade, no. We need three, four, or five," Norris told Sky Sports F1.

"But it depends, sometimes you take one little piece at a time, and sometimes you try and make something so it all goes together, because it is a new philosophy or something. 

"But we're certainly like two or three months behind; that's not one upgrade, that is a lot of bits, so I don't think we're going to be quick anytime soon, but hopefully over the next three, four, five months, we can catch up and narrow the gap to be on pace [with Mercedes and Ferrari].

"To catch up takes a huge effort from the team, which they're doing.

"Everyone is very excited and motivated because we know that it is possible, so it is just that we are like three months behind, and that is a hard task to overcome.

"Everyone in McLaren knows that we can achieve that, and we're excited to try and do it."