Norris targeting Verstappen-like title comeback after ‘insane’ Monaco GP disaster

Norris' race had already been a frustrating one before his Lap 45 retirement. The McLaren driver had been stuck behind Alpine's Pierre Gasly during the Grand Prix, all the while suffering with engine-related issues from the very start.

Speaking to media, including GPblog, Norris explained the issues he had been dealing with for 45 laps. He said: "It was just a lot of stuff I could hear from the engine, the turbo, the battery, a lot of things that don't sound correct. We tried to fix it, it made the problem worse, we put it back, so I had the problems again, but seemed to have to live with it, and then in the end, they just completely went."

Norris, who now has a 98-point deficit to championship leader Antonelli after the first six rounds of F1 action, referenced Max Verstappen's 2025 comeback when asked whether he believed he and McLaren could still retain their titles this year. Last season, Verstappen was 104 points down on the championship lead, reducing that gap to just two behind eventual champion Norris.

“I have to. Max came back from that much last year, so I never want to rule it out, especially so early on in the season," Norris answered. However, the 26-year-old admitted there is an awful lot of work to do with an inconsistent McLaren MCL40.

"But when you're six tenths off in qualifying around Monaco, it's hard to find too many positives from that. But you just look back to a couple of weeks ago in Miami, we fought for a win. Probably should have won the race.

Luckily, McLaren have an immediate opportunity to right some wrongs with the Barcelona-Catalunya GP coming up this weekend, with Norris hoping the team can regain the pace they found in Miami, where he won the Sprint and was arguably unfortunate to finish P2 behind Antonelli in the Grand Prix.

Norris added: "I think it would be nice to see if we can return, get some of the pace back that we had like in Miami. At the same time, I just don't understand how we were quick in Montreal and struggled here. I didn't think we expected to be quick in Montreal. We seemed to be pretty quick, and I seemed to get a lot out of the car myself.