Guenther Steiner believes Lando Norris can overtake George Russell for second place in the 2026 Formula 1 drivers’ championship.
After the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring circuit, Norris ranks fourth in the drivers’ standings with 186 points. Mercedes’ Russell holds second place with 211 points, while his teammate Kimi Antonelli leads the championship with 292 points.
During an appearance on The Red Flags Podcast, the former Haas team principal argued that the reigning champion possesses the performance needed to close the gap on Russell and potentially overtake him before the season concludes.
“He will finish second if he keeps this pace,” Steiner stated. “Look at how content the Lando boy is.”
Following a difficult start to the season, McLaren introduced upgrades that yielded consecutive victories for Norris at the Hungarian and Dutch Grands Prix. He later secured fourth place at the Italian Grand Prix.
Norris entered the championship conversation after those two grand prix victories. Speaking to Sky Sports following the announcement of his contract extension with McLaren through the end of 2030, the 26-year-old discussed the team’s potential for the current season.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“The team is working better than ever before,” Norris stated. “I believe they are operating more efficiently and diligently than in recent years. That level was world championship-winning caliber. So, it’s not that I doubt we can win it.
“I am confident we have the necessary foundations in place. It is merely specific areas of the car requiring improvement, and I believe we can achieve that. It is simply a race against time, as is customary in Formula 1. However, we demonstrated over the past few weekends that we can still win races, and we possess significant momentum.
“I always strive for more, and I want the confidence to improve the car sufficiently to comfortably state, ‘Yes, we can fight for this world championship.’
“Therefore, we can easily compete as a team. We just need to refine a few aspects of the car, and I remain confident we can accomplish that.”
