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Mercedes may still lead the 2026 Formula 1 campaign, but Lando Norris believes Ferrari’s recent surge has exposed a potentially decisive weakness in the rest of the field: the Scuderia’s chassis performance is already at a level its rivals cannot match.
The Silver Arrows opened the season in commanding fashion, winning the first six grands prix through George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. That run ended in Barcelona, where Lewis Hamilton delivered Ferrari’s first victory of the campaign after consecutive runner-up finishes had already hinted at a breakthrough.
Ferrari’s heavily upgraded package impressed its rivals immediately. McLaren has already acknowledged the scale of that step, with Andrea Stella’s view that Ferrari now possesses F1’s best chassis explored in detail here: Stella: Ferrari now has F1’s best chassis after Hamilton’s Barcelona win.
The remaining question is power. According to recent ADUO results referenced in the paddock, Red Bull is the engine benchmark, Mercedes is 2-4% behind, and Ferrari is more than 4% adrift. That shortfall gives Ferrari two upgrade tokens — a potentially significant lever if the chassis is already as strong as its rivals fear.
Norris, who finished third in Barcelona behind Hamilton and Russell, was blunt about the threat.
“We’re lucky that Ferrari don’t have a better engine at the minute,” the McLaren driver told Sky Sports. “If they had a better engine, they’re dominating.”
His assessment was not framed as exaggeration. Norris said Ferrari is currently “the class of the field in terms of cornering performance” and admitted McLaren is “a long, long way” from where it needs to be.
“If they make improvements on the engine side, then they’ll embarrass everyone,” he added. “We need to really get our heads down and see what improvements we can do.”
Norris’ podium was helped by Antonelli’s late retirement and Charles Leclerc’s Q3 crash, but the underlying concern was clear: McLaren’s gap to Mercedes and Ferrari is growing.
Oscar Piastri finished fifth, 35 seconds off the podium and 59 seconds behind Hamilton. He said McLaren and Ferrari had been close earlier in the season, but Ferrari’s latest parts worked strongly in Barcelona.
Piastri also pointed to the race conditions. Low grip and fragile tyres, he said, played into Ferrari’s strengths because of its high downforce, even if that comes with drag.
McLaren leaves Barcelona third in the standings, 121 points behind Mercedes and 49 behind Ferrari, while holding a 52-point margin over Red Bull. The message from its drivers is simple: Ferrari has moved, and McLaren must respond quickly.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.
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