Lando Norris’s victory in Hungary ended McLaren’s long wait this season, but Mercedes refuses to attribute this success solely to the new package of upgrades introduced on the MCL40.
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After the arrival of several new parts, McLaren suddenly seemed capable of competing with the Silver Arrows, which had been dominant until then.
Starting from pole position, Norris perfectly controlled the race to give his team its first victory of the year. This result immediately reignited the debate about a possible change in the hierarchy in Formula 1.
Performance variations
Mercedes’ deputy technical director, Simone Resta, acknowledges that McLaren’s upgrades certainly brought a significant gain. However, he believes that Norris’s personal performance also played a decisive role: “This is clearly an important upgrade, which necessarily had an impact on their performance. But if you look at the gap between their two cars, it is also significant,” he explained.
Oscar Piastri never seemed able to keep up with his teammate’s pace, which leads Mercedes to think that McLaren’s leap forward is not solely based on the new parts.
Resta points out that this difference between the two drivers has already appeared several times this season. McLaren has been competitive on many circuits, but the fastest driver has regularly changed depending on the weekends: “We have seen that McLaren was performing several times this year, with some variations between the two drivers regarding who was the fastest.”
Norris advantage
According to the Italian engineer, Norris especially found an excellent connection with his car, its setup, and the tires in Hungary: “Lando had already delivered several very solid performances this season. He was probably particularly comfortable with the car and the setup in these conditions. He managed the tires very well and executed his weekend perfectly. So I think the result comes from a combination of these two elements.”
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For Mercedes, Norris’s victory is thus the product of a more efficient technical package, but also of an almost flawless performance by the Briton.
McLaren’s progress comes at an important moment in the championship. Mercedes remains at the top of both standings, but its lead has started to shrink, notably due to several reliability issues that have cost the team valuable points.
Leveling up
Simone Resta nevertheless assures that Mercedes will not panic: “The overall level of Formula 1 has become extremely high. You have to get the most out of every area. We are fortunate to have a lot of experience, good processes, and good tools. We just have to keep solving problems one by one, with the right priorities.”
The goal is to address each weakness rationally and methodically: “You must not do anything in the heat of the moment. We have to analyze the problems, bring the right solutions at the right time, and speed up this process. Once all that is sorted, we will become a better team.”
Mercedes thus acknowledges McLaren’s progress, but considers that the Budapest result does not necessarily reflect a definitive overturning of the hierarchy. In the eyes of the German team, Norris did not just have a faster car: he also delivered one of his best weekends of the season.
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