Lando Norris has countered George Russell’s claim that McLaren could “stop development now” on the MCL39 and put their focus on 2026, responding by saying “if you start thinking things are good and groovy, that’s when you get caught.”

He added that if it’s “the wrong mentality to have” from Russell and Mercedes’ perspective, with 23 races still to go in a long season yet.

Lando Norris responds to George Russell with ‘wrong mentality’ claim

Russell qualified fourth for the weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, with Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri having impressively locked out the front row.

The Mercedes driver believed their advantage was such that it could hand the Woking-based team a leg-up for both this and next season, with teams looking at deploying resources into the critical regulation changes in the 2026 season.

“It’s what we expected to be honest, we’ve seen how strong they are,” Russell said after qualifying in Melbourne.

“They’re at such an advantage because they can stop development now and go fully [focus] on ‘26 and it’s difficult to overcome that gap.”

Norris, though, does not quite see it the same way – given the swings in performance that can take place during a season, referencing McLaren’s own uptick in competitiveness relative to Red Bull last season.

Fresh from winning the Australian Grand Prix, Norris was sat next to Russell and Max Verstappen in the post-race press conference when the topic was brought up, and the McLaren driver insisted there is still much to be done to improve the MCL39, despite acknowledging the Woking squad’s ‘favourites’ tag.

When asked if the title was McLaren’s to win, Norris replied in Melbourne: “Let’s see. Max was three tenths off [in qualifying]. Last year we were a lot further off, and we ended up having the best car at the end of the season.

“We were over half a second off at the beginning of last year, behind the Red Bull – we ended up with the quickest car.

More on McLaren and upcoming F1 changes from the FIA

👉 The scary data behind McLaren’s new rocket ship

👉 Explained: Why the FIA has introduced even more flexi-wing directives

“I know George made some comments earlier on the weekend that we can just turn our focus to ’26. If that’s their mentality then wonderful, because that’s not the mentality to have. So, sorry mate [addressing Russell, ed.], but I don’t think so.

“We know we have a lot of work to do on this year’s car still. I think if you do relax in that position, you fail, because in Formula 1, if you start thinking things are good and groovy, that’s when you start to get caught.

“I do think we’re favourites, because the team have done an amazing job, the car’s flying. But like I said, I think we’re going to have races where we are going to struggle.

“I think if we started off in Bahrain, like I said, we wouldn’t have won the race, and you wouldn’t be saying this kind of question to me – so let’s allow a few more races to take place before we start making any obvious things.

“But we’re the favourites, we are the team to beat, mainly because we have two drivers up there pushing each other, that helps.

“Do I think me and Oscar working together yesterday, pushing one another allowed us to get one and a half, one tenth more than the two drivers here, because their teammates aren’t as equipped and as experienced? Yes. So, add that into the equation as well.

“Not going to just say it’s the car. So, the team have done an amazing job, I thank them for everything they’re doing, but we know we can make it a lot better still, and that’s our aim.”

In response while sat next to Norris, Russell replied: “They look pretty good and groovy at the moment. So yeah, we’ll see.”

Read next: Did Pierre Gasly inadvertently cause Fernando Alonso’s Aus GP crash?