Williams Racing Formula One driver Carlos Sainz has revealed startling comments made by McLaren driver Lando Norris about the 2025 MCL39 F1 car. The comments arrive days after Norris crashed into his teammate, Oscar Piastri, at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Sainz said ahead of the upcoming race weekend in Austria that Norris is “lacking a bit of the feeling” with the car compared to last year’s MCL38, which helped Norris challenge Max Verstappen for the 2024 championship battle.
While Verstappen managed to secure his fourth title over Norris due to his racing prowess, the impressive battle between the two drivers placed Norris as a strong championship rival for this year.
However, since the start of the 2025 season, Norris has been overshadowed by Piastri, who has improved his race starts, leading to flawless qualifying and race performances. Piastri leads the 2025 championship battle with 198 points, 22 more than Norris in second with 176 points.
While the points gap doesn’t guarantee a championship victory for Piastri, it does represent a situation that has been challenging for Norris. McLaren overhauled its car over the winter break to smooth the rough edges and build on last year’s strong foundation, a step that might have altered certain characteristics of the car, especially how it feels to drive.
Sainz highlighted Norris’s ability to win a championship but revealed the problem he was facing with the 2025 title contender. The Spaniard said:
“It has not been easy for Lando,” he told F1. “When I talk to him, he clearly is lacking a bit of the feeling he had with the car, compared to previous years. It’s a bit unfortunate that that happens exactly a year after he’s fighting for the world championship.
“It’s, I think the fate, and somehow the way that F1 can go. We’ve seen the careers of many drivers being compromised by having a year where the car just doesn’t seem to go exactly where you like. You can name Daniel [Ricciardo], for example, when he changed to McLaren.
“If that happens exactly the year that there is a championship car, it’s unfortunate, and that is why F1 is such a complex sport, because it doesn’t depend purely on you and your talent but also on a lot of things coming together at the same time and at the right time.
“My feeling is that Lando, as a driver, has the capacity to turn things around with his talent, with his speed. There are still plenty of races where anything can happen, and it will all come down to whether he can put those laps together in quali at the right time.”
As F1 teams are expected to switch their focus to the 2026 car soon, it remains to be seen if McLaren addresses this concern with the MCL39.
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