Lando Norris believes Ferrari would be the dominant force in F1 if they “had a better engine” after Lewis Hamilton took the Scuderia’s first victory of the season in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Hamilton claimed his first Grand Prix win for Ferrari in Sunday’s 66-lap race since joining the team at the start of 2025, beating the Mercedes of George Russell while championship leader Kimi Antonelli retired late on having just passed his Silver Arrows team mate for second.
It marked Ferrari’s first win since the Mexico City Grand Prix in 2024 and is also the first time a Mercedes driver has failed to finish on the top step of the podium on a Sunday this season.
The only other time Mercedes has not won this season was the Miami Sprint, where Norris claimed victory, with the McLaren driver and reigning champion the man to complete the podium in Barcelona after capitalising on Antonelli’s retirement
Following the race, Norris highlighted his belief that Ferrari took a step forward in Spain after bringing more upgrades and could pose a genuine threat to Mercedes over the remainder of the season, with Hamilton only 41 points behind Antonelli in the Drivers’ standings.
“I think we really need to understand how to make the car more drivable in all conditions,” Norris told Sky Sports F1. Clearly it works okay here and better in Miami.
“We’re lucky that Ferrari don’t have a better engine at the minute. If they had a better engine they’re dominating. They’re the class of the field in terms of cornering performance at the minute and we’re not even close to them.
“It’s the realistic point of it, we’re a long, long way from where we need to be. If they make improvements on the engine side, then they’ll embarrass everyone.”
The rostrum in Barcelona was only Norris’ second podium in a Grand Prix this season after he finished second in Miami. The Briton is already 83 points behind Antonelli in the standings after seven weekends, with the prospect of defending his title slipping away.
“We need to really get our heads down and see what improvements we can do, but the team are working hard so it’s not that we’re not doing that,” he said.
“We’re working very hard, everyone back in the factory is doing the best they can. Some things take time but we need to really accelerate the programme at the minute because we want to stay in the fight.”
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