Norris: Ferrari would 'embarrass' everyone with better engine

Reigning world champion says "lucky Ferrari don't have a better engine at the minute"; McLaren with "quite a clear agenda" for where they need to improve against Mercedes and Ferrari; watch every session of the Austrian Grand Prix from Friday, live on Sky Sports F1

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>Lando Norris believes Ferrari would "embarrass" the rest of the Formula 1 field if they had a better engine.

>Lewis Hamilton ended Mercedes' unbeaten run on Sundays in 2026 by winning the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix and won the race by nearly 20 seconds from George Russell, with Norris another four seconds back in third.

>Hamilton benefitted from a timely Virtual Safety Car but likely still would have won the Grand Prix, albeit he would needed to have overtaken Norris, Russell and Kimi Antonelli - before the Italian retired late on.

>The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is the best test for a car's aerodynamics due to its long corners and high-speed turns, where Ferrari had an advantage over their rivals.

>Ferrari's biggest weakness has been on the straights as their power unit is inferior to Mercedes and Red Bull. However, they have been given two opportunities to upgrade their engine this season as part of the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system.

>There has been speculation they could introduce the first of those upgrades as early as this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.

>Mercedes have one engine upgrade opportunity but Red Bull, with the best engine according to the FIA, do not.

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>"We are lucky that Ferrari don't have a better engine at the minute. If they had a better engine, they would be dominating," Norris told Sky Sports F1.

>"They are the class of the field in terms of cornering performance and we are not even close to them. We are a long, long way from where we need to be. If they make improvements on the engine side, they will embarrass everyone.

>"We need to really get our heads down and see what improvements we can do. But the team are working very hard. Everyone back at the factory is doing the best they can. Some things take time but we need to accelerate progress because we want to stay in the fight."

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>Norris' third place in Spain was just his second podium of the season and came after two retirements in Montreal and Monaco, where the McLaren driver suffered unreliability issues.

>The reigning world champion is 83 points behind championship leader Antonelli and says McLaren "need to understand how to make the car more driveable in all conditions".

>"We were not in the fight [in the race]. They [Ferrari and Mercedes] were too quick. The fact we could keep pace with them was a nice surprise," said Norris.

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>"I felt like I drove a really good race but it doesn't mean you win, it just feels like I got everything out of the car.

>"We know the car isn't quick enough. We are working hard though and the team are doing a good job to make improvements but everyone else is making improvements as well. Ferrari are making improvements and they showed how quick they were."

>Sky Sports F1's Jacques Villeneuve speaking on The F1 Show podcast:

“I was very happy with what I saw about Norris [in Spain]. He had pace, more pace than expected.

“Like the Ferrari and the Mercedes, you see a gap in between the two team-mates there where Norris seems to be continuing with last year's second half of the season momentum, driving like a champion, maximising what the car can give, getting on the set-up.

“He was in a fight for the podium on pace. He was just at the door and his team-mate wasn't.

"That's a little bit worrying because if you have two or three tenths difference, this could mean a podium or seventh or eighth.

“Norris should be very happy with his weekend because he really maximised everything he had. He wasn't out there thinking, ‘I'm world champion now. I don't need to push that hard. I just can take it easy because the car is not winning anyway, why should I bother?’.

"He still has that fire, that energy going to want to make things better, to go for podiums and maybe end up going for a win like what happened with Lewis.”

>McLaren came into the season looking for a third consecutive Constructors' Championship crown but are already 121 points adrift of Mercedes.

>They are lacking pace slightly in all areas including in a range of cornering speeds and optimising performance from their Mercedes power unit.

>But, McLaren will be buoyed by their development rate in recent years as they often make big gains for upgrades compared to their rivals.

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>"Spain gave us very clear indications. These indications are consistent with what we knew already," said team principal Andrea Stella.

>"We have to add grip to the car of an aerodynamic nature, so add load onto the tyres, and then we also have to improve the way we interact with the tyres in terms of qualifying preparation but in the race, reduce tyre degradation.

>"Quite a clear agenda from a performance point of view. We need to add aerodynamic performance and we need to add solutions for a better tyre exploitation."

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>Thursday June 25 2pm: Drivers' press conference 5pm: Paddock Uncut

>Friday June 26 8.50am: F3 Practice 10am: F2 Practice 12pm: Austrian GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm) 1.55pm: F3 Qualifying 2.30pm: Team bosses' press conference 2.50pm: F2 Qualifying 3.35pm: Austrian GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm) 5.15pm: The F1 Show

>Saturday June 27 9am: F3 Sprint 11.15am: Austrian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am) 1.10pm: F2 Sprint 2.15pm: Austrian GP Qualifying build-up* 3pm: AUSTRIAN GP QUALIFYING* 5pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

>Sunday June 28 7.35am: F3 Feature Race 9.05am: F2 Feature Race 10.50am: Porsche Supercup 12.30pm: Austrian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday* 2pm: THE AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX* 4pm: Austrian GP reaction: Chequered Flag 5pm: Ted's Notebook

>Formula 1's European season continues with the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime