Lando Norris has admitted that he wants to remain “patient before I get too excited” about McLaren’s new upgrades for the Hungarian Grand Prix, which should help them close the gap to the frontrunners.
The reigning World Champion has endured a rollercoaster first half of the 2026 season, with reliability issues coming to a head last time out at Spa-Francorchamps where Norris had to take a 10-place grid penalty for replacing a variety of power unit components.
It coincided with a particularly strong weekend for the Briton as he posted the third fastest time in Qualifying and demonstrated fantastic pace on his way to finishing P7, so much so that he believed he could have finished on the podium if it wasn’t for the penalty.
McLaren are hopeful that they can extract similar performance at the Hungaroring, where they secured 1-2 finishes in the previous two seasons. They may not be tipped to repeat that achievement in 2026, but their updated floor and other aerodynamic parts should work well at the high-downforce circuit.
“I’d say this upgrade is probably the biggest of the year by quite a long way, so we’re hoping it’s going to bring us a step [forward],” said Norris. “There’s been a couple of bits this year that haven’t worked exactly the same as we’ve expected or as we wanted, so I’m just being patient before I get too excited over anything.”
Elaborating on what he’s expecting from the upgrade, he explained: “More grip, a faster car I hope. Let’s just wait and see first. Obviously hoping that it just allows us to get more pace out of the car and limit some of the issues that we have currently, or at least make them a little bit less.
“I’m confident we can still be quick. I think there have been many races this year where we’ve been quick. Spa was probably one of the first alongside Miami where I think we generally seemed pretty decent, and actually the pace was pretty strong even compared to the frontrunners, or the quickest.
“Where we’re clearly behind is still just Qualifying – there’s no chance we’re getting close to going four-tenths quicker in Qualifying, or half a second quicker. I think there are bits on both sides that need to improve but I certainly hope the upgrade can give us a little bit of a jump.”
While Norris is targeting his first podium finish since the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, his team mate Oscar Piastri is suffering an even longer wait, having missed out on the rostrum since Round 4 in Miami.
Despite struggling for speed at a number of circuits, the Australian has consistently placed in the top five with the exception of Canada, where he collided with Alex Albon, and Great Britain, where he sustained damage on the opening lap.
Looking ahead to Hungary, Piastri said: “I think we should be a bit more competitive. We’ve got a few upgrades this weekend, so hopefully that puts us a bit closer to being able to fight. I think in Spa, certainly in the race, we were probably a bit more competitive than we expected so that was a good thing.
“I actually can’t remember if I used [the updates] on the simulator. We should be faster – that’s all I care about. I feel like we’ve got a pretty good track record with upgrades for the most part and how they perform in the sim versus reality. Fingers crossed it just makes us quicker.”
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