Lando Norris Concedes George Russell Has the Best Shot at Kimi Antonelli This Season

• Lando Norris says he no longer believes his McLaren is capable of fighting for this year’s title everywhere on the calendar
• The reigning champion is 96 points behind Kimi Antonelli heading into the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, with George Russell the closest challenger 66 points back
• Norris says he “wishes George the best” in taking on his Mercedes team mate for the championship

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Norris Points to Russell as the Real Challenger to Antonelli

Lando Norris has all but conceded his title defence, telling media in Madrid that his McLaren simply isn’t fast enough everywhere to fight Kimi Antonelli for the championship this year. The Briton arrives at the Spanish Grand Prix 96 points off the pace, and he thinks it’s George Russell, not him, who has the best shot at reeling in his Mercedes team mate over the closing rounds.

It’s a blunt admission from a driver who won the title only last year. Two wins this season, in Budapest and Zandvoort, have kept Norris in the conversation, but Antonelli’s form in the races that followed has pushed him well clear at the top, with Russell the only driver Norris believes has a car capable of matching the championship leader.

“I Wish George the Best”

Antonelli’s win at Monza extended his advantage at the top of the standings, and Russell now sits 66 points adrift of his team mate in second. Norris, in turn, trails Russell by 30 points, a gap he referenced directly when asked about his own prospects.

“[Russell] is 30 points ahead of me,” Norris told media on Thursday in Madrid. “So George, I think, is still the one who has the best chance of trying to take the challenge to Kimi. Hamilton is still many points ahead of me as well.”

The numbers tell their own story. Antonelli leads the standings on 267 points after his Monza win, with Russell on 201 in second. Hamilton sits third on 191, and Norris is fourth on 171, just 20 points shy of his Ferrari rival but 96 adrift of the championship leader.

Norris didn’t stop there. Asked how his own chances compared with those of his rival, he handed the fight to Russell outright.

“We have two wins in a row, so the car is good in some places,” he said. “It’s just, like I said, not as good as it needs to be everywhere. And the only person that has a car that’s the same as Kimi is George. So I wish George the best in trying to fight Kimi.”

Monza Exposed McLaren’s Uneven Pace

Norris pointed to Monza as proof of the problem. He and team mate Oscar Piastri finished fourth and fifth there, well off the front, in a result that Norris says showed the McLaren doesn’t have the pace to compete at every venue on the calendar.

That inconsistency is the difference between Norris’s title defence and Russell’s live shot at Antonelli. Russell’s Mercedes has kept pace with his team mate’s car everywhere this season, according to Norris, while McLaren’s form has swung from race winner to also-ran depending on the track. Norris still has two wins this year to his name, at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest and at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, but neither result has been enough to keep him within touching distance of the top of the table.

A Brand New Track Adds to the Unknown

Norris’s comments came ahead of Formula 1’s first ever visit to the Madring, the purpose built circuit hosting Madrid’s first Grand Prix in 45 years. With no prior data on the track, every driver heads into the weekend blind on how their car will behave, and Norris admitted he wouldn’t know whether the circuit suited McLaren until he got out on track.

“I think the whole track is quite challenging with how the corners are laid out, uphill, downhill, off-camber, camber,” he said. “The whole track looks pretty exciting.”

He said the circuit took less time to learn on the simulator than he expected. “It was okay, it took maybe three, four laps, I think, to know what to do in most places. Of course, then you figure out the smaller details. But I thought it would be harder, so it was actually okay, to be honest. It’s always different when you get on track and actually feel everything. The sense of speed is quite a big difference compared to a simulator.”

Piastri, who arrives at Madrid still chasing his own foothold in a season that has swung between promise and frustration for McLaren, was equally candid about the challenge the Madring poses.

“Obviously there are quite a few high-speed corners, which on a street circuit is always, there are always just massive consequences with that,” Piastri said. “The banking as well, I think, will be a big challenge, and then also just the compromise of what you need from the car. I think there are a lot of different types of corners here, a lot of kerbs you seem to need to use. So I think getting the compromise of things as well is going to be tough.”

For Norris, the weekend represents one more data point in a title defence that has already slipped from his hands in all but name. With Russell now cast as Antonelli’s closest pursuer and McLaren still searching for pace everywhere on the calendar, Madrid arrives less as a title opportunity for Norris and more as a chance to see whether a brand new circuit can shuffle the competitive order before the season’s final stretch.

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More F1 Reading

• Kimi Antonelli Tops Opening Day At Madring
• Lewis Hamilton Frustrates Four Rivals as Arvid Lindblad Brands Him ‘Stupid’ in Chaotic Madrid Practice
• Max Verstappen Brands New Madrid Circuit a ‘Car Killer’ as F1 Drivers Brace for Its Unforgiving Walls
• George Russell Insists He Has ‘An Answer’ to Kimi Antonelli’s Pace as He Trails by 66 Points

Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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