FORMULA 1 F1 CALENDAR 2026 LEWIS HAMILTON MOTOGP RUMOURS

Norris confident of another McLaren turnaround despite DNS nightmare in China

Photo: Race Pictures

18:30, 17 Mar

byHenry Eccles

Lando Norris says he has "a lot of hope and a lot of faith" that McLaren can turn their early 2026 misfortunes around, despite the Woking team's disastrous double DNS at the Chinese GP.

Minutes prior to the race in Shanghai, both Norris and Piastri had to pull out due to separate electrical problems, leaving them with only 18 points from the first two rounds.

Norris, however, has looked upon McLaren's history of bouncing back from tough starts to the season, as encouragement that the world champions can fight for podiums and wins in the latter half of 2026.

Norris 'wants to believe' McLaren can fight for wins in 2026

Photo: Race Pictures

Speaking to media, including GPblog, Norris was asked whether he still sees potential for McLaren to bounce back, much in the same fashion as they did from dead last to the podium positions in 2023, for example.

"Absolutely, absolutely," Norris replied.

"I mean, every year is different, so it's never a guarantee, but I have a lot of hope and a lot of faith in the team that we can turn things around from where we are.

"It's still a very long season. Of course we've got, after Japan, a good little break coming up so that's probably a good thing for us to try and figure out things and it gives us a bit more time to maybe develop some things to see if we can get on the car earlier.

"So as much as it's not a start of a year we want, I think I have a lot of confidence in the team. We can still improve things and we can fight for podiums at some point this year and we can fight for wins maybe later in the season and I want to believe that. So, yeah, tough start but I have faith."

Norris was then asked whether he felt deflated after experiencing the highs of becoming world champion to facing the prospect of a tough season ahead.

“I just have to be hopeful. That's it. Could I be happier? Could I be enjoying it more? Yeah.

“Could we both be much happier if the car was performing better and we didn't have some issues? Of course, but it's not like we're not [unfamiliar] with the situation of being a bit behind and having to catch up, it's where we were a few years ago."