Lando Norris admits ‘surreal’ McLaren moment at start of 2026 F1 testing

Lando Norris says seeing the championship-winning No 1 tag on his new McLaren car is a “surreal” feeling as he starts his 2026 F1 season preparations this week.

The British driver, who won his inaugural title last year, was at the wheel of McLaren’s MCL40 on Wednesday, setting the third-fastest lap of the day and clocking up 77 laps in total.

As per the regulations, the reigning world champion has the option of picking the number one tag for the following season’s car and, having taken up that option, Norris acknowledged how different it felt on Wednesday.

“It was just nice to be back, nice to see a number one on my car - pretty surreal still," Norris said. "I saw it on the timing screen, I still find it just unbelievable.

“It's still a crazy thing to see. Now it's really the first time I get to see it on my suit, on the car, on timing screens, all of these things, and it looks good.

"It's the first time that everyone gets to see the car in one piece, it's literally not been built until this morning. It's an incredible thing, nice to see it all come together, nice to see all the hard work that everyone does."

McLaren opted to miss the first two days of this week’s private ‘shakedown’ event in order to maximise the development time for their car. The payaya-clad team, adorning a temporary black livery in Barcelona, have revealed there will be minimal updates to the car before the first race in Australia on 8 March.

Norris added: "Today was really just a first understanding of the whole car, understanding just how it works really, going through the manual of everything.

“So a productive day, but it's one that's really about figuring stuff out, making sure things are working as they should.

"It's pretty different. It's a step slower in terms of cornering speeds. In terms of acceleration and straight-line speed, it probably feels quicker than it did last year, you get to 340, 350 [kph] quite a bit quicker than we did in previous years.

"But then you have a bit more to understand from the battery, the power unit, all of those things are in some ways more complicated and just different. And whenever something's different, it always takes a bit of time to figure out the best way to manage it."

Oscar Piastri takes to the track on Thursday, with both drivers set to split duties on Friday. McLaren unveil their 2026 car livery in Bahrain on Monday, 9 February, two days before the second pre-season test begins.