Lando Norris is 'eliminating weaknesses' in bid to defend F1 world championship

Lando Norris believes he is "eliminating weaknesses" from his driving and is at a higher level than in his 2025 title-winning season.

The reigning champion signed a new contract to extend his stay with McLaren on Saturday and has won the previous two grands prix in Hungary and the Netherlands.

This moved him to 83 points behind Kimi Antonelli, who leads the drivers' standings, but the Italian has claimed that Mercedes no longer has the fastest car on the grid, instead believing that McLaren now does.

Norris's victorious 2025 campaign was one of two halves, following a mixed first half of the season in which he claimed he was not good enough after mistakes in qualifying, including a crash in Saudi Arabia, before rallying in the second-half of it to overhaul Oscar Piastri and fend off Max Verstappen's late charge.

Despite that, Norris now feels he is operating on a higher level than ever before.

"I was driving at a high level in the second half of last year, and it’s tough to say, but I do think it’s a trickier car to drive this year in some ways," Norris told media, including RacingNews365, when asked if he was driving better now than in 2025.

"I think you can see that because the gaps between team-mates are often bigger this year, I would say, than it was last year, but I do believe so [that I am driving better than in 2025]. 

"I do believe I’m able to understand situations better, to understand the car in a better way. It’s still just horrible to drive, but I’m doing a better job at just understanding this, relaying this to my team, figuring stuff out. 

"So, it’s not just that I’m driving better on track. I’m certainly eliminating my weaknesses on track, and I don’t have so many, but it’s also how I work off the track. 

"And for me, [Saturday to Sunday over the Dutch GP weekend] is a perfect example of how the work we put in overnight transformed our race and gave me the opportunity to win, so the work we put in away from the track is certainly a huge part of that."