Norris admitted he must make smarter choices as McLaren seeks to move past his Singapore incident with teammate Oscar Piastri.
His aggressive push for fourth in the sprint knocked both him and Piastri out, stripping the team of crucial championship points and flouting its racing ethos.
After Singapore, principal Andrea Stella announced further discussions at the Woking base to prevent a repeat; sources say the meetings occurred last week and the squad now wants to put the episode behind them following Norris’ apology.
“I own my errors and learn from them,” Norris said ahead of the United States Grand Prix. “This team drives me every weekend; I aim to repay the effort by improving, making smarter choices, and representing McLaren at my best.”
The teammate clash compounded a tough triple‑header, as McLaren could not match Red Bull’s substantial upgrades that powered Max Verstappen to consecutive victories in Malaysia and Singapore.
Stella stressed the need to turn lessons into action, noting that F1 offers no guarantees. In my view, McLaren’s performance gap feels too wide, yet the team vows to keep building, developing and pushing forward together.
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren
McLaren launches latest upgrades after recent performance dip
McLaren introduced its own upgrades to the MCL40, yet after a baffling lack of pace in Malaysia, Singapore confirmed that while the parts function as intended, Red Bull out‑developed them, Ferrari excelled on the high‑downforce street circuit, and Mercedes also made gains.
For the Austin race, McLaren is fitting its latest modest upgrades, focusing on the front end, hoping the Circuit of the Americas suits the car better than Baku or Singapore did, and adding tweaks to boost driver confidence under braking.
“We’re delivering a modest upgrade package for this event, targeting braking reliability and performance,” chief designer Rob Marshall explained. “We also have a few small floor tweaks to evaluate.”
“Predicting the relative strength of the top teams over the past five or six races has been tough. Many variables—upgrades, circuit suitability, driver preferences—play a role. Recent rounds haven’t favoured us, but I feel we’re regaining strength and Austin could suit our car better,” Marshall added.
Will the modest upgrades finally lift McLaren into the points at Austin?
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– The Team