Norris: "Surreal" to see number 1 on my car as McLaren kicks off F1 2026 testing
"I saw it on the timing screen and I still find it just unbelievable," says Lando Norris as he makes his Formula 1 2026 track debut in the #1 McLaren
Lando Norris says driving around as the reigning Formula 1 world champion was a "surreal" feeling as he took to the track in Barcelona for a day of discovering his 2026 McLaren MCL40.
McLaren delayed its start to pre-season testing until Wednesday, the third of five shakedown days at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya. With teams able to pick and choose a maximum of three days to run at the grand prix venue, it means the reigning world champion outfit is still on track to get its full allowance of mileage in.
Norris did the honours for McLaren on Wednesday, joining the action mid-morning and clocking 77 laps on the stone cold Catalan circuit. The Briton went out in a MCL40 temporarily clad in McLaren's black and grey testing livery, trading in his usual #4 to uphold the tradition of the reigning world champion using #1 the following year.
"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."
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Formula 1
Norris said his day was largely spent getting to understand his MCL40, by regulation a radically different car than the predecessor he won the 2025 world title with.
"Today was really just a first understanding of the whole car, understanding just how it works really, going through the manual of everything," he added. "So a productive day, but it's one that's really about figuring stuff out, making sure things are working as they should."
When asked what he thought of his new car, featuring lower downforce, active aerodynamics and a much bigger emphasis on electric energy deployment, the Briton replied: "It's pretty different. It's a step slower in terms of cornering speeds," he reported. "In terms of acceleration and straightline speed, it probably feels quicker than it did last year, you get to 340, 350 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."
Barcelona shakedown, in photos
Barcelona shakedown, in photos
Barcelona shakedown, in photos
Barcelona shakedown, in photos
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Barcelona shakedown, in photos
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Barcelona shakedown, in photos
Barcelona shakedown, in photos
Barcelona shakedown, in photos
McLaren chief designer Rob Marshall said the title-defending squad found no troubling surprises when it first ran its new challenger.
"The car ran pretty well today, we're quite happy with it, no nasties, no really scary things went wrong," he said. "There are obviously little gremlins here and there but we ironed those out during the day.
"We really treat this week as a shakedown, so this is for us to get the car reliable, running, and make sure it'll run in all the conditions we want it to run in. We're going all the way around the envelope trying every single bit we can and then when we get to Bahrain we'll try and dial the car in a bit better. The conditions here are so cold that doing representative lap times is obviously going to be very difficult."
McLaren confirmed Oscar Piastri will take over the MCL40 on Thursday, with the pair likely splitting duties on Friday.
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