Norris claims Ferrari would be dominating "if they had a better engine"

Lando Norris left the Circuit de Barcelona‑Catalunya with a podium but he admitted that McLaren need to find more performance if it is to fight for victories.

The reigning world champion finished third behind the Ferraris, yet his post‑race reflections painted a picture of a title fight slipping away unless McLaren can rapidly unlock more performance — particularly in consistency and drivability.

Norris was clear that the team’s biggest limitation remains the car’s behaviour across varying conditions, something that continues to expose them on more traditional, high‑load circuits like Barcelona.

“I think we really need to understand how to make the car more drivable in all conditions,” he told Sky Sports F1. “Clearly it works okay here and better in Miami.”

From there, he turned to Ferrari — and did not hold back. Norris argued that the Scuderia’s chassis and cornering performance are already the benchmark, and that only their power unit is preventing them from dominating outright.

“We’re lucky that Ferrari don’t have a better engine at the minute. If they had a better engine they’re dominating. They’re the class of the field in terms of cornering performance at the minute and we’re not even close to them.”

The gap, he stressed, is not marginal but structural: “It’s the realistic point of it, we’re a long, long way from where we need to be. If they make improvements on the engine side, then they’ll embarrass everyone.”

Norris’ third place was only his second podium of the season after finishing runner‑up in Miami, and he now trails championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 83 points after seven rounds. He acknowledged that the title defence is becoming increasingly difficult, but insisted that McLaren are pushing hard.

“We need to really get our heads down and see what improvements we can do… Some things take time but we need to really accelerate the programme at the minute because we want to stay in the fight.”

Despite the competitive frustration, Norris also found room for appreciation — particularly for Lewis Hamilton, who claimed his first victory in Ferrari red. Sharing the podium with Hamilton and George Russell created a historic all‑British top three, something Norris described with genuine warmth.

“I think pretty cool. It’s pretty special… I grew up as a fan of Lewis. As a seven‑time World Champion, it’s always a pleasure to see those kinds of things.”

He added that the moment carried extra significance given the criticism Hamilton has faced in recent years.

“He’s had a lot of people talk badly about him and he’s got a lot of crap online from a lot of people, so it’s nice that he can stick the middle finger up to all of them.”

“I hope he’s not this fast the whole season, because it would be nice if we could battle a bit more," Norris concluded.