Lando Norris spots Kimi Antonelli’s biggest title weakness

Lando Norris isn’t ruling himself out of the F1 2026 title fight, insisting the pressure remains on Kimi Antonelli as Mercedes’ mistakes continue to cost the team points.

Norris claimed his first Grand Prix victory as F1’s defending champion in Hungary, overcoming an early challenge from his teammate Oscar Piastri to win the race ahead of Max Verstappen and Antonelli.

Lando Norris insists F1 title fight is alive

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Although Norris remained fifth in the standings, the 25 points marked only the third time this season that he outscored Antonelli as he narrowed his deficit to the championship leader to 91 points.

There are, however, still 316 points in play – 300 Grand Prix points and 16 for the Sprints in Zandvoort and Singapore.

The Briton believes all the pressure is on Antonelli, especially given Mercedes’ woes.

The Brackley squad may have won the bulk of the Grands Prix, eight of the 11, but they’ve also been hampered by issues that have cost Antonelli and his teammate George Russell podium points.

In Hungary alone, Russell was hampered by a water leak in qualifying and anti-stall off the line, while Antonelli was given a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow for yellow flags in the closing minutes of Q3 after Verstappen suffered a spin.

“The pressure is on him [Antonelli] for sure. There’s no pressure on me,” Norris told Sky F1. “I’ve been feeling very confident.

“They [Mercedes] have made more mistakes as a team, and we have made less, and we have come strong.

“I expect them to still win races and expect us to win more races.

“We just need to be perfect from here on now for the whole year.”

F1 2026: The season’s winners and losers

The results of the F1 2026 championship

The F1 2026 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Norris does, however, concede that McLaren still has work to do to improve the MCL40.

“We need to improve the car still,” he said.

“We were certainly the quickest in Hungary from qualifying to the race. Not every race is going to be this simple, and we are going to be as quick, so we need to work hard to try to get the car to be this good everywhere.

“If we can, maybe that’s a genuine question.”

The 26-year-old is hoping McLaren can continue its upward trajectory having strung together a run of five races inside the points, including two podiums, after a trying start to the championship.

“I want to believe so,” Norris told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media. “Considering how good it felt today, I certainly want to believe that we can continue it.

“There are going to be moments when we struggle more, moments that might be even better, but we know this track is a good one for us. It’s probably one of my best-suited tracks of the year.

“This is maybe as good as it can look for now, but I certainly believe we can still win races.

“I knew it was coming and the team have put so much work in to make it a car that can finally win again. It’s nice to be able to do it for them.”

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