Lando Norris: McLaren Still Chasing Ferrari and Red Bull After Initial Bahrain Testing
With four days of pre-season testing left on the calendar, Lando Norris isn’t sugarcoating McLaren’s current position in the pecking order. The reigning world champion and two-time constructors’ title winner is optimistic about the team’s trajectory-but he’s also realistic. Right now, McLaren is playing catch-up.
Despite clocking the second-fastest time of the Bahrain test so far-just behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc-and logging a session-high 149 laps on Thursday, Norris made it clear that McLaren isn’t where it needs to be just yet.
“We did a good amount of laps, we’re certainly not quick enough,” Norris said after wrapping up his final session of the week. “Plenty of work for us to look into and try to improve on.”
That’s not just driver-speak. Norris pointed to Ferrari’s long-run pace as a clear benchmark, and right now, McLaren isn’t quite in that neighborhood.
“Today was our first bit of understanding on where we stand in terms of pace,” he explained. “We’re not really close to them at the minute.
We’re certainly not bad, but we’re not quick enough.”
Let’s be clear-this isn’t panic mode. It’s testing.
Teams are running different programs, fuel loads, and setups, and no one’s showing their full hand. But Norris’ comments offer valuable insight into how McLaren is evaluating its early performance with the new MCL40 chassis under the revamped 2026 regulations.
The good news? The car is running reliably, and the team is collecting crucial data.
That’s the foundation for any meaningful development. “It’s still just testing and we’ve got plenty of things we know we can already improve on and work on,” Norris added.
“So nothing to be worried by, but a productive day for the teams and for myself, and that’s the most important thing.”
While Ferrari’s pace is one concern, Red Bull’s performance is another. The Milton Keynes squad, now running its own power unit in partnership with Ford, has turned heads in Bahrain-not just for its speed, but for its efficiency. And Norris has taken notice.
“They have a very good power unit by the looks of things,” he said. “They deploy and have a lot of efficiency [with their engine energy management].”
That’s a big deal in this new era of F1, where power unit deployment and energy recovery systems are more critical than ever. Norris acknowledged that both he and the team have areas to improve-on the driver side, the chassis side, and with their engine supplier, Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP).
“There’s always things I can maybe do a little bit, there’s some things on the McLaren side we can do a little bit, but also from McLaren, HPP side, and Mercedes, I think that they know there’s certainly areas we need to improve,” he said.
Bottom line? Red Bull looks strong.
“The Red Bulls seem to have done a very good job, and the Ford powertrain seems to be very strong. Fair play to them.
But, at the minute, they’re a good step ahead of us.”
McLaren’s work continues without Norris on Friday, as Oscar Piastri takes over driving duties for the final day of this first test block. After that, the teams get a few days to regroup before the second and final round of pre-season testing kicks off next Wednesday, again in Bahrain.
Looking ahead, Norris is confident that McLaren will unlock more performance before the lights go out in Melbourne. But he’s also aware that the competition isn’t standing still.
“I know we are going to improve and we’re going to make steps forward, but I’m sure they are as well,” he said. “So, yeah, we have to wait and see. There’s no point in trying to guess these things.”
For now, the reigning champ is focused on maximizing every lap, every data point, and every opportunity to refine the MCL40 before the season opener. “We’ll do all the work we can and maximise our efforts at the minute,” Norris said. “But we’ve got a pretty big step to make to be confident of beating them, that’s for sure.”
The 2026 Formula 1 season begins with the Australian Grand Prix on March 6-8, where Norris will begin his title defense. If Bahrain testing is any indication, the road to repeating won’t be easy-but McLaren knows exactly where it stands, and what it needs to do.