Loyalty is laudable but absolutely no guarantee of success in Formula 1. Lando Norris wants to, and has shown the potential to, win world titles. So, his signing a contract extension to stay put at McLaren is not primarily borne out of a feeling that he needs to repay any kind of debt to a team that recruited him as a junior driver in 2017 and afforded him his topflight break two years later. Instead, he has renewed vows because he feels McLaren offers a realistic route to success.
The terms of Norris’ new deal have not been disclosed. That might be because the paperwork contains break clauses so the actual end date is not set in stone. Or perhaps it only bolts on two years to his previous 2022-25 deal, so McLaren don’t want to shout too loudly about a shorter commitment this time around.
If the latter is true, it indicates that Norris believes remaining at Woking is the best option for now but might not necessarily take him all the way to title glory. Norris himself admits that championship success at McLaren is unlikely to arrive before 2026.
“If you want to win one race, we are the closest we’ve ever been since I’ve been here at McLaren and for many, many years,” he said. “But fighting for a championship is a bigger step…
“The championship, as much as I would love to say over the next two years, ’26 is an opportunity for everyone on the grid. So that’s the big, big question mark.”
Currently aged 24, there’s still ample time for rumours linking Norris to Red Bull to resume. But with his stock so high and him being so embedded at McLaren, putting that all on the line in the shorter term by upping sticks and trying to unseat Max Verstappen from a similar position isn’t entirely appealing.
Had Norris not agreed a contract extension and was therefore a free agent for 2026, he would have been moving on the eve of a major regulation change. At a time when Red Bull would be taking a mammoth step by debuting its own in-house engine design, there’s no guarantee that today’s dominant force would still be quite so untouchable.
Photo by: FIA Pool
With his stock so high and him being so embedded at McLaren, putting that all on the line by upping sticks and trying to unseat Max Verstappen from a similar position isn’t entirely appealing
“I think it’s just a very, very good time [to sign a new deal], especially when it’s going to be coming to a couple of years where things start to get a bit more…
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