Lando Norris Makes 'Worrying' Comment When Asked About McLaren's 2026 Car

Fans have been left concerned after hearing Lando Norris' comment about McLaren's new car ahead of the 2026 season.

Norris will enter the new season as the reigning Drivers' Champion, having won his first world title at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2025.

The Brit was pushed all the way by Max Verstappen, who finished just two points behind him.

Norris' McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri led the Drivers' Championship between April and October, but went on a run of six races without a podium and finished 13 points behind the eventual champion.

McLaren are reigning consecutive Constructors' Champions, though face a significant challenge in 2026 due to the introduction of a series of regulation changes.

The changes largely relate to aerodynamics and power units, meaning teams have had to adopt a different design strategy in those key areas compared to the previous generation of cars.

A private behind-closed-doors test, referred to as 'shakedown week', will take place at the Circuit de Catalunya between January 26-30.

Several teams will not have officially launched their 2026 cars by then, and given that performance will likely not be a key part of the five days, it is unlikely that fans will learn anything significant about where each team might be at in terms of development.

Ahead of the opening test, Norris was asked by Sky Sports' Craig Slater at the Autosport Awards about how easy it would be to adapt to the new driving style.

"It's different, to get used to," he replied. "But before we drive it on track, it's difficult to say."

The tone of Norris' reply - and his facial expressions - concerned fans, with one writing on social media: "This was always going to happen haha. #1 [Norris' new car number] gonna be a proper tractor."

A second said: "Oh no please don't."

A third wrote: "Oh we are so cooked."

A fourth asked: "Is there another team who are happy right now?"

While a fifth pointed out: "Y'all he hasn't even driven it yet... he don't know."

McLaren fans will be hoping to avoid what occurred after the last time one of their drivers won the Drivers' Championship - which ironically happened during a regulation change year.

After Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 title, McLaren spent the first half of 2009 towards the back of the field.

The team had started development of the 2009 car early, and were one of only two teams - Ferrari being the other - to incorporate the new Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) into their design.

The KERS system added significant weight to the car and therefore reduced performance, but that was offset by the deployment of extra energy on straights and out of corners to keep faster cars behind them.

The issues were instead more significantly related to the car's balance and aerodynamic handling, with McLaren forced to introduce mid-season upgrades to get them back up the field.

Hamilton won two races and secured three podiums in the final eight races of the season, with an engine failure preventing him from adding a third win in Abu Dhabi.