Lando Norris is a natural talent in Formula 1. The British driver came to McLaren in 2017, where he served as a test driver, and it was not until 2019 when he had the opportunity to be the starting driver for the Woking team, as he continues to be to date.
Although he has not yet managed to achieve his first victory in the category, the British driver already has a total of 13 podiums, 7 of them achieved during the 2023 season, and 6 fastest laps in a total of 104 Grand Prix entries.
Norris has proven to be an extremely fast driver, even beating the experienced 7-time Grand Prix winner, Daniel Ricciardo, when the Australian was his teammate. Now, with Oscar Piastri on the other side of the garage, both drivers managed to position McLaren in P4 in the constructors’ championship with a total of 302 points.
Although P4 is not a relevant achievement for them, in 2023 it was, since those from Woking started the season with a huge number of problems, causing them to finish in last places in numerous races. It was not until the middle of the season where they managed to correct these problems and begin to climb positions, even beating Aston Martin, who were looking to secure at least P4 in said championship.
Photo Credit: McLaren Racing Media Centre
With some rumors circulating about possible interest that Red Bull has in Lando Norris, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has commented that he is confident that the British team will give Norris reasons to stay with them after his contract ends in 2025.
“I have a belief whether it’s employees, drivers, sponsors, that it’s our job to take care of them and for them to want to be at McLaren.” Brown stated during McLaren’s 2024 livery unveiling. “So I tend to focus on making sure McLaren is the best environment and people want to be with us, because you ultimately can’t control external approaches to those various people.”
“I’m very confident the relationship that we have with Lando, I know he’s very excited for this year and he was very impressed with what he saw in the second half of last year, he loves working with Andrea [Stella] and everyone on the team.
“So all we need to keep doing is keep giving him the environment he wants to be in, and then I’m confident he’ll stick around as opposed to trying to sell against the competition. That’s never been my way.”
“We have Lando under contract for another couple of years. Of course, we’re in dialogue with him on a continuous basis as he’s starting to think through as we are, we’re very focused now here, obviously on the short term but also ’26 isn’t far away.”
McLaren does not deny the interest that certain teams have had in the British driver, however, Brown is confident that by giving them a good environment and, of course, a good car, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be happy to stay with the Woking team.
