Lando Norris: “Our advantage over Ferrari is the engine, but they are better than Mercedes in the corners”. Lando Norris analyzes the battle between McLaren and Ferrari after Chinese GP qualifying.

Battle for the role of second force

Qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix once again delivered an exciting contest between Ferrari and McLaren, as the two teams fought for the position of main challenger to the dominant Mercedes cars. In the end, the four red and papaya-colored single-seaters were separated by less than two tenths of a second, highlighting just how close the competition has become at the front of the field.

The two SF-26 machines ultimately came out on top in this particular battle, locking out the second row on the starting grid. That result left the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth place respectively, with the Australian driver narrowly ahead of his British teammate.

At the end of the Q3 session, the reigning world champion offered an interesting and very clear analysis of what had unfolded on track. Norris emphasized the progress his team has made compared to the season opener in Melbourne, particularly in the way McLaren has managed to extract performance from the Mercedes power unit. At the same time, he acknowledged the impressive job Ferrari has done in developing its current car.

Norris’ analysis

“We have a better engine compared to Ferrari,” Lando Norris admitted. “And that’s our advantage at the moment. We simply have more speed on the straights, but on the other hand there’s still a car [Ferrari] that goes through some corners even faster than the Mercedes, so staying with them through the corners and then trying to pass them on the straight is difficult. They and Mercedes have different strengths, so we’ll see how it goes. They manage their tyres better, they have more grip and that makes it much easier to preserve the tyres in that way.”

“We have to push like crazy through the corners to keep up with them, and then obviously we can recover a bit on the straights. If we manage to improve something then we’re certainly not out of the fight to compete with them, but it will still be very difficult,” concluded the British McLaren champion.

Lando Norris’s admission that Ferrari is “better than Mercedes” in certain corners marks a significant shift in the 2026 power balance narrative. While Mercedes remains the qualifying benchmark, the mechanical grip of the Ferrari SF-26 suggests that the Scuderia may have the most “complete” chassis on the grid. For McLaren, the challenge lies in translating their straight-line surplus into a viable overtaking strategy. If Norris can protect his tires during the technical first sector, his power unit advantage could make him a formidable threat on the 1.2km back straight. Tomorrow’s battle for the podium will likely come down to which philosophy—top speed or cornering stability—fares better over a full 56-lap race distance.