Lando Norris’ Dismay with McLaren’s Deflated Progress Hints An Untimely Silly Season Trigger

The 2023 season will see its first race action at the Bahrain Grand Prix in approximately 24 hours (at the time of writing). However, before racing even begins, Bahrain is predicted to be a disaster for McLaren. The Woking-based outfit was extremely poor in the pre-season testing and that will not change for the race weekend as well. This output from the team for the second year in a row is a disappointing aspect for Lando Norris. Additionally, this below-par output is making experts make a disparaging prediction for 2026 regarding the Brit.

The 2023 season silly season is concluded, but it’s never too early to open this can of worms again. In fact, Michael Baumann is jumping the gun and making predictions for the 2026 season. The American shared the concerning opinion on Twitter after coming across Norris’s interview with The Race.

The Race asked Norris about the current state of the MCL60, to which Norris did not have a lot of positive things to say. He said, “What we’re going to have in Baku should be what we started the season with. If you want to be a top team, we should have started the season with those kinds of parts which are coming. Until then, we’ll just do the best we can to make the most of what we have now.”

“I think we’ll still have a better start to the season than last year, so I think that’s a step in the right direction. But we’re not happy,” concluded Norris.

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These comments motivated Baumann to tweet, “If I were predicting F1 driver lineups for 2026, the one I’d put the shortest odds on at this moment is Audi: Norris/Bottas.”

Norris communicated these feelings after the pre-season testing as well. However, these comments from Norris were more subtle than his reaction in the McLaren garage.

Frustrated Lando Norris punches the wall after Bahrain pre-season testing

On the last day of pre-season testing, Norris was at his last straw. A usually very happy-go-lucky Brit uncharacteristically showcased a side we have never seen before.

Will Buxton revealed, “I actually saw him leave the garage and walk to the little driver’s room on the side, and very unlike Lando he sort of punched the flimsy makeshift wall as he walked through.”

The limited time on the track, 37 laps to be exact, brought out the frustrated side of Norris.

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As things stand, the race will add to Norris’s frustration and will only, hopefully, get better in Baku.