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Lando Norris demonstrates how taking your chances is key in Formula 1 as the defending world champion feels he is driving better than his title-winning campaign, but only has his win at the Hungarian GP to show for it. The Brit has been in superb form in the 2026 F1 season and has had the beating of his teammate Oscar Piastri, the Australian having only finished ahead of him in three of the nine weekends since McLaren solved their DNS issues. He has looked both soundly faster in terms of race pace, more consistent than his 25-year-old counterpart and more adaptable and also came close to winning the Miami GP, as Kimi Antonelli fended him off by a handful of seconds. Norris has earned widespread acclaim for his driving, yet despite his performances, success has been hard to come by, with just one pole position and two podiums to accompany his victory at the Hungaroring. Antonelli leads the standings with 219 points and six wins to the 19-year-old’s name for Mercedes, and the teenager finds himself a hefty 91 points ahead of the fifth-placed 26-year-old McLaren star as a result. Ironically for Norris, he feels his driving in the ongoing Formula 1 campaign is better than his title-winning season as the champion demonstrates how taking your chances is truly the key to success in the sport. More from Formula 1 Catch up with Total Motorsport's latest Formula 1 coverage, including Lando Norris' Hungarian GP victory, the full race classification, Aston Martin's upgrade review, and the surprise return of Sepang to the 2026 calendar. “I think in terms of my driving, and my own performance as a driver, honestly, I’m very happy,” Norris told McLaren. “I feel like I have been doing a good job of maximising the car’s potential. “I feel like I’ve driven better in this half of the season than I probably did to this point last year, to a certain extent, but sadly I’m not leading the championship. “Of course, I want a better car and a car that can give me more chances and give me more results for the performance of driving I feel like I’m getting out of it, but that’s Formula 1.” Norris’ rocky championship bid in 2025: How the title almost slipped away Although Norris ultimately emerged as world champion, the opening half of the season was dominated by questions over whether he was making the most of the fastest car on the grid compared to Piastri and Max Verstappen. And much of the criticism centred on his consistency in the early rounds, as whilst his pace was competitive enough in the races, he often found himself unable to maximise the McLaren MCL39 compared to his rivals. Costly mistakes in qualifying, untidy race starts and missed opportunities prevented him from converting McLaren’s advantage into the results many expected as several weekends slipped away through small but significant errors. In Bahrain, Norris admitted he was “clueless” after struggling throughout the weekend before qualifying only sixth on pace whilst Piastri stormed to pole, as another opportunity to maximise points vanished. In Saudi Arabia, things worsened as he found himself under the spotlight after crashing in Q3 while pushing for pole position, as the mistake consigned him to 10th on the grid whilst Piastri qualified second and won the race. There were also tough weekends to endure at the Miami GP and Emilia Romagna GP with further errors, as well as finishing behind his teammate on pace at the Chinese GP, Spanish GP in Barcelona and Belgian GP. But the most high-profile mistake came at the Canadian GP, where Norris crashed into the back of Piastri and suffered a crucial DNF in a completely unforced error with an ill-judged move to the inside of the start-finish straight. He did not help himself with his self-criticism, and his poor form relative to his teammate overshadowed his victories at the Australian GP, Monaco GP, Austrian GP and Hungarian GP despite the fact he entered the summer only nine points behind Piastri. How Lando Norris demonstrates taking your chances is key in Formula 1 Even with four wins, four pole positions and an extra seven trips to the podium, there was a sense that the gap in the standings should have been substantially greater – especially given McLaren led the constructors’ championship by 299 points after Hungary. Failing to maximise those opportunities ensured that when his luck went against him with a mechanical DNF whilst leading the Dutch GP, there was a sense that he had not done enough to avert bad fortune. Piastri went on to win and took a 34-point lead from Zandvoort, and hitting rock bottom seemed to help Norris gather himself and focus as he came back stronger after leaving the Netherlands to lick his wounds. In the following nine races, the Briton recorded three pole positions, two victories and appeared on the podium six times – which would have been seven, had McLaren not suffered a double disqualification in Las Vegas. At the same time, Piastri’s own consistency and form had nose-dived as the driver from Melbourne claimed just three podiums in total and crashed twice at the Azerbaijan GP weekend, allowing Norris to go on to win the title by two points. Norris escaped a rocky season with glory, but now finds himself delivering commanding performances only good enough for podiums, as he demonstrates taking your chances when they’re there is key in Formula 1 – because there is no guarantee of more.