Norris's dominant Hungary win leaves Mercedes impressed but firmly focused on closing reliability gap

Lando Norris delivered McLaren’s first grand prix victory of the 2026 season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, ending Mercedes’ perfect pole record in Budapest and controlling Sunday’s race from front to back. The result drew a candid acknowledgement from Mercedes, whose deputy technical director Simone Resta described the performance as the product of both a significant technical upgrade and an exceptional weekend from Norris himself.

McLaren fitted a redesigned floor to the Mercedes-powered MCL40 ahead of the Budapest round, and the gains were immediately visible. Speaking on Mercedes’ in-house podcast, the Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show, Resta said: “For sure, it’s a sizeable update and it must have had an impact on their performance. But also, if you look at the gap between their two cars, it’s significant as well. Maybe he was in a very good place with the car and the set-up in these conditions and tyre management and he executed very well. So I think it’s probably a combination of both aspects.”

The Hungarian result is the latest sign that Mercedes’ early-season dominance — six wins from six poles to open the campaign — is being steadily eroded. Ferrari and McLaren have both since broken through with victories on the back of targeted upgrade packages. Ferrari has closed to within 72 points of championship-leading Mercedes heading into the summer break, recouping 26 points over the previous three weekends.

Resta said the tightening of the field was broadly anticipated despite the radical new chassis and power unit regulations introduced for 2026. “Clearly, you only start the season with question marks about potential other contenders, but actually it panned out as we expected,” he said. “It’s nice to see some fluctuation of performance, which I guess is making the racing quite more interesting.”

A persistent concern for Mercedes, however, is the reliability problems that have cost the team points throughout the first half of the season. Resta acknowledged the issue directly, vowing the squad is tackling its gremlins with “relentless effort” and framing the challenge as a reflection of the elevated standard across the grid in Formula 1’s new era.