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Mercedes has expressed admiration for Lando Norris's victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend, achieved with McLaren's upgraded car, while also detailing their own efforts to enhance both reliability and performance.
Norris broke Mercedes' perfect streak of 2026 pole positions in Budapest before dominating Sunday's race, securing the Woking-based team's first win of the season. This success followed McLaren's installation of a new, redesigned floor on their Mercedes-powered MCL40. The topic was discussed in a recent episode of the Mercedes podcast.
Mercedes Deputy Technical Director, Simone Resta, commented: "It's certainly a significant upgrade, and it must have impacted their performance. But also, if you look at the difference between their two cars, it's substantial. We've seen McLaren perform well on many occasions this year, with some fluctuations between the two drivers regarding who is faster. We've already witnessed strong performances from Norris several times this year. Perhaps he felt very comfortable with the car and setup in those conditions, managed the tires exceptionally, and executed everything perfectly. So, I think it's likely a combination of both aspects."
The current season began with Mercedes' dominance, as they won the first six races from pole position. However, Ferrari and McLaren have since claimed victories thanks to their respective upgrades. After closing a 26-point gap over the last three weekends, Ferrari now trails championship leader Mercedes by 72 points heading into the summer break.
While the drastically new chassis and powertrain regulations allowed for a spread among the teams on the grid, Resta stated that Mercedes had anticipated the competition becoming as fierce as it has in recent months.
"Yes, we generally expected it," said the former Ferrari employee. "Clearly, you start the season with question marks about potential other contenders, but things have actually unfolded as we anticipated. It's great to see these teams develop, perhaps with a slightly different scenario involving various upgrades at different times. It's good to have fluctuations in performance, which I suppose makes the races much more interesting."
One factor contributing to the competition's progress has been Mercedes' ongoing powertrain issues and other reliability concerns, which cost the team numerous points in the first half of the season. Resta promised that the team is addressing its problems with "tireless efforts."
"I think this is a result of the higher level in Formula 1," the Italian added. "You really have to squeeze everything out of every single aspect, and we are fortunate to have a lot of experience within the team. We have good processes, good tools. We just need to continue with our tireless efforts to address them one by one with the right priority. Nothing emotional, just rationally analyzing all of them, ensuring we have the right solution at the right time, and accelerating that process. We will be a better team once we've dealt with all of this."
Meanwhile, Mercedes is considering its own upgrade program for the second half of 2026, having seen its rivals introduce much larger packages so far.
"These are the conversations happening right now," said Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord. "When do we bring in the upgrades that are in the wind tunnel or being developed in the factory at the moment? In which races do we introduce them, where do the ADUO capabilities for the powertrain fit in, as well as the aerodynamic chassis upgrades? We need to ensure we do it at the right pace and don't hinder ourselves by trying to rush too much."
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