Lando Norris is visibly ‘tired’ after accepting ‘absolutely every invite’ to celebrate his title

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Lando Norris’ level of ‘motivation’ at the start of the 2026 season has been questioned after he won his first world championship last year.

Norris is fifth in the standings after the first three races with 25 points, though it’s worth noting that he qualified sixth in China before he was unable to take the start. With McLaren relinquishing their position at the top of the pecking order, it has been a low-key title defence up to this point.

The bigger concern for Norris is his performance relative to teammate Oscar Piastri. He may be four points ahead, but Piastri has only started one race, and the Australian also leads the qualifying head-to-head 3-0.

Is Lando Norris’ championship title defence already over?

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Lando Norris ‘revelled in being world champion’ – but at what cost?

Speaking on F1TV’s review of the season so far, commentator Alex Jacques pointed out that Norris made every possible public appearance after winning the title.

He wonders if that period of celebration has taken its toll, particularly given the short nature of the off-season. There were only seven weeks between the Abu Dhabi GP, the race where Norris was crowned, and the start of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

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A critic of the new regulations up to this point, Norris said he overtook Lewis Hamilton accidentally during the Japanese GP due to a difference in energy deployment. Jacques says he still has ‘a lot to learn’ about the 2026 generation of cars.

“He attended absolutely every invite he was given as the world champion,” said Jacques. “He revelled in being world champion. If you do that, and you go into a shakedown in January, you don’t really get an off-season.

“At points in the paddock, he’s struck me as a driver who’s a little bit tired, who’s got a lot to learn with this regulation set. I think there are different levels of motivation in the paddock for different drivers.”

Jolyon Palmer defends Lando Norris after tricky 2026 start

Jacques’ colleague Jolyon Palmer has previously said that Norris has been ‘hobbled’ by McLaren’s unreliability at the start of the year.

He reiterated this point on the F1TV show and predicted that he will still win multiple races this year, even if he looks unlikely to retain his title.

“Oscar was brilliant in Japan and generally has been slightly stronger than Lando the first three races,” said Palmer. “But I also think Lando’s had a lot of issues, and I don’t think we’ve seen anywhere near the best of him.

“I would expect him to be winning races again this year, and become more of a force.”

There’s an argument that Piastri will be hurting more than Norris this year given that he missed a golden opportunity to win the championship in 2025.

McLaren say both drivers are working together to improve the car after the intense competition between them last season.