Norris makes it back-to-back Grand Prix wins
Norris makes it back-to-back Grand Prix wins
Lando Norris ended the first half of the 2026 season with his maiden win of the campaign, leaving him hopeful that he and McLaren could continue to deliver on that promise when the championship resumed.
While he had to settle for third in Saturday’s Sprint, the reigning World Champion stormed to pole position for the Grand Prix later in the day – but with heavy rain falling prior to Sunday’s race, there were suddenly doubts over how strategies might unfold.
As it was, the showers had eased by the time of lights out and Norris initially held onto P1 off the line – yet he was faced with the challenge of maintaining that position for a second time when the race was restarted following a crash for Max Verstappen (more on which below).
This time around it was Antonelli who got the stronger launch, the Italian snatching the lead from Norris. The Briton bided his time, though, and managed to catch the championship leader during the final third of the race where he soon retook the place.
Despite questioning whether he should have made a pit stop during a late Virtual Safety Car phase, Norris ultimately needn’t have worried as he crossed the line with a sizeable margin of over 11 seconds from Antonelli to seal his second win in a row.
While this has inevitably led to talk over his prospects of a title bid, the McLaren driver was keen to play that down as he commented after the race: “We have to keep working hard. There are still plenty of races, plenty of opportunities for everyone. Keep my head down, keep working and they’ll keep coming.”
Comments