- Norris’ unlucky start to the season
- 2025 season start v 2026 comparisons
- Upgrades on the way to help
Lando Norris has had a difficult start to life as a world champion. The British champion who beat Max Verstappen and his teammate, Oscar Piastri, has had a string of issues in the opening stages of the season. His title rivals have also experienced issues of their own.
Though Norris also had some struggles at the beginning of 2025, 2026 comes with issues on a more persistent scale.
Norris’ early struggles
Out of 13 sessions of the 2026 season, Norris has encountered some sort of issue in 10 of them so far. At the Australian GP, Norris was plagued from FP1 all the way to qualifying. The race where he finished fifth, was the only problem-less session that weekend.
In China, the Brit suffered deployment issues in sprint qualifying and then did not start the main race on Sunday when he was met with PU issues, and one of his three allocated batteries for the season was permanently damaged.
In Japan, Norris missed 30% of FP1 due to ride height adjustments caused by bottoming, missed 50% of FP2 due to a hydraulic leak and 50% of FP3 due to an ERS issue and his second of three batteries for the season failed.
He is currently on battery 3/3 for the season and will incur penalties for any additional batteries used after this one.
Norris finished fifth in Sunday’s race in Suzuka. Considering issues he faced in the lead up to the race, it was not a bad result, but the world champion will definitely aim for more next time out in Miami.
Piastri’s misfortune
Oscar Piastri has also had a difficult start to the 2026 season too. Piastri’s third place finish in the standings last year would be somewhat disappointing for him considering his excellent form midway through the season. However, 2026 is the perfect opportunity to bounce back.
Unfortunately for Piastri, he had not managed to start a race this year, before the Japanese Grand Prix. Aside from the sprint race in China where he scored three points, Piastri recorded two DNSs before taking on Suzuka.
In Australia, his home race and the season opener, a big shunt on the recon lap ended his hopes for any points at all. In China, like his teammate, he experienced technical issues, which forced him to sit out the race before it even began.
The positive for the Australian came from a straightforward weekend in Japan here he scored a podium in his first full race of the season.
McLaren upgrades to come in Miami
McLaren Team Principal, Andrea Stella, has come to give McLaren fans hope with the news that significant upgrades are on the way when F1 arrives in Miami. Stella confirmed that, “The first major upgrade package is planned for Miami.”
Piastri’s podium will inspire encouragement and belief that they can turn things around. How much closer McLaren will get to Mercedes, we’ll soon find out.
Verstappen’s 2026 issues
Max Verstappen, who came so close to a fifth world championship last season, has had struggles of his own. He is currently 2-1 (main GP qualifying) down to Isack Hadjar in qualifying and 4-0 down to Gasly (including the sprint race qualifying) in the Alpine.
It seems that Alpine (Pierre Gasly in particular) have improved in their own right, but also highlights Verstappen’s troubles. He finished P8 in Suzuka, once again behind Gasly.
With the five-week break until the Miami GP, Norris and the others have the opportunity to regroup and come back stronger and potentially give Mercedes a challenge.
Will any of them really pose a threat to Mercedes? We’ll soon find out.
