McLaren's 2026 half-term report

McLaren's title defence began with a stumble in 2026, but the Woking outfit has found form just before the summer break with Lando Norris sealing the team's first win of the campaign at the Hungaroring.

Best finish

Lando Norris – 1st in Hungary. McLaren endured a difficult opening to the season with Oscar Piastri unable to take the start in Australia and both cars missing the Chinese Grand Prix entirely. Podiums followed, including a 2-3 in Miami where McLaren looked in contention for a win, before Norris converted pole into a maiden win as reigning world champion at Round 11 in Hungary in an upgraded MCL40.

Head-to-heads

Qualifying: Norris 7-4 Piastri. Norris leads the Saturday battle, with his Hungaroring pole among the highlights. Piastri's best Saturday results are P3 in Japan and Hungary.

Race: Norris 5-5 Piastri*. The pair are level on race finishes. Norris has two DNFs, while Piastri has one retirement and a DNS in Australia. No mark was recorded for China as both failed to start.

Best moment

Norris' dominant Sunday in Budapest stands out. After downplaying an advantage on Saturday, Team Principal Andrea Stella saw the pace confirmed on Sunday.

"My pace today was probably some of the best pace I've ever had. The car was beautiful to drive and I felt very confident, so a great race," Norris said.

"Considering how good it felt today, I certainly want to believe that we can continue it," added the 26-year-old.

Worst moment

The low point was the double DNS in China. Norris was unable to leave the garage after build-up issues, and Piastri was wheeled back from the grid when a problem was detected on his car. Stella confirmed the issues related to the "same power unit component on the electrical side" and said the lost points "could have been important at the end of the season".

Reliability also bit Norris with back-to-back retirements in Canada and Monaco, while Piastri suffered a gearbox failure in Hungary after contact with Carlos Sainz.

Going forward

Norris believes the team can "still win races" but warned: "If we want to come back, we need a lot more of these and we need to continue putting pressure on our competition. This weekend was a perfect weekend for us but it's going to be tough, so we'll keep pushing and keep working hard."

Stella warned of a "race of development until the end of the season" and said the focus remains on reliability and future upgrades to deliver more performance consistently.