Championship leader Lando Norris claimed after the Dutch Grand Prix that Mercedes no longer has the best car, possibly ranking third. However, Norris, now fourth in the standings with 159 points to Max Verstappen's 242, downplayed his own title chances despite winning two consecutive races. "I don't have the car I need to fight for a championship," he said after his Zandvoort victory. The competitive picture is complex: the McLaren MCL40 excels in fast corners, Ferrari's SF-26 is strong in slow corners, and the Mercedes W17 sits between them, making performance heavily circuit-dependent.

Norris argued his car lacks the all-round dominance of last year's Red Bull. "We're very, very strong in high speed... But their advantage that they have to us in slow speed is also crazy," he explained. Technical factors like shorter wheelbases, tyre compound sensitivity, and energy harvesting interdependencies add variability.

In the sprint, Norris struggled on mediums but recovered in the grand prix on hard tyres to pressure Verstappen. He acknowledged the significance of his comment but insisted his assessment reflects the car's limitations across upcoming tracks.