2025 world champion, Lando Norris admits to being baffled by drivers who favour the new cars.

His comments, don't so much relate to the ongoing row over energy management and the like, but the actual cars, which many claim are better than what preceded them.

At the weekend the Briton got to try his 2023 car at a McLaren promotional event and claims the experience has left him confused by his colleagues' claims.

"It's too impossible to compare," said Norris, who in reality had no serious running in the MCL60, merely a few burn-outs. "But if you ask me now, do I still enjoy the older cars more? Yes. I find it hard for anyone to say they enjoy driving these cars as much as previous generations.

"I think it's obviously possible," he added, referring to those who prefer the 2026 cars. "But it's still our job to adapt to these cars we have now. They're good in different ways. They should be getting better over time."

Asked about the recently announced refinements, he said: "It's tough to go that much further, honestly. I think when you start to cover up some problems you also reveal other issues, so there's only so much you can do with the rules that you have to keep things.

"I think we would all love more in the direction that they've gone," he admitted, "but some of those are more hardware, bigger things. Those are hard things to change in the middle of a season when you have one team dominating and doing very well and other teams struggling.

"So it's difficult from that end to do a lot more, but they've moved things in the right direction, especially for qualifying. The race really isn't going to be that different. Some things are not going to change that much. Qualifying should be a bit more flat-out qualifying style laps, which is a nice thing, it's what we wanted as drivers.

"I think we have to be happy with the amount of changes that they've done. Yes, we would like more, but that's what we have to be pushing for."