Norris Admits Monaco Struggle Was No Surprise As McLaren Confidence Crisis Deepens

Lando Norris qualified eighth in Monaco, his worst grid position of the 2026 season so far, and admitted the result was entirely predictable given his car’s persistent weaknesses.
The defending champion had privately expected to start from around the fourth row heading into the Monaco weekend, a reflection of his honest assessment of the MCL40’s current limitations.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella suggested the car should handle slow-speed circuits reasonably well, but Norris held a starkly different view based on what he feels behind the wheel.
“I think just a slight difference of opinion,” Norris said when pressed on the contrast between his expectations and those of the engineering team.
Norris pointed to Montreal as evidence of the car’s inconsistency, noting his surprise at being competitive there given how difficult the MCL40 has been to extract lap time from in 2026.
“I didn’t have high hopes into this weekend. The car is just very difficult to drive, not very compliant, not very forgiving in any way,” Norris explained to reporters in Monaco.
The Briton used a striking personal confidence metric to illustrate just how far off he feels heading into a circuit where precision and commitment are absolutely non-negotiable.
“So my confidence level last year was 100, now it’s 85. And around Monaco, you know, you need to be at 100,” he said.
The MCL40 has been plagued by a lack of front-end feel throughout the season, an issue that appeared to contribute directly to Norris locking up at the chicane on his final qualifying push lap.
McLaren also had to break curfew overnight in Monaco to replace Norris’s wiring harness and other electrical components after his car stopped during second practice on Friday, adding further disruption to an already difficult weekend.
Team-mate Oscar Piastri qualified just over a tenth ahead of Norris, though that gap could partly be explained by Norris exceeding the limit on his fastest attempt rather than a genuine pace difference between the two specifications.
Piastri reverted to an older front wing specification ahead of qualifying after McLaren trialled a new version in Montreal but chose to delay a firm conclusion on its effectiveness pending further evaluation.
Both drivers ended up on the fourth row, over half a second behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s pole-sitting Mercedes, a gap Norris believes cannot be closed simply through driving improvements alone.
“We struggle with some attributes, with front locking and the front of the car just not working very well. But this is a car thing, not a tyre thing, or a combination, and this is something we have to work on,” Norris said.
Norris was clear that the fundamental performance deficit sits with the car itself, summarising the situation with a characteristically direct observation about where McLaren currently stands relative to their rivals.
“You’re always trying to push the car to the limit in every aspect, it’s just our limit’s here and the others’ is slightly above,” he said. “It’s as simple as that. It’s also not as simple as that.”
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