Lando Norris: British driver signs new McLaren contract

Lando Norris has signed a new contract which McLaren say will keep him at the team "until at least the end of 2026".

The 24-year-old Briton was already contracted to McLaren until the end of 2025. The team did not reveal the exact duration of his new deal.

Norris, who was of interest to a number of other teams, said committing to McLaren was "quite an easy decision".

He said he was "more confident than ever" of winning a world title with the Woking-based team.

Norris and McLaren had an impressive second half to last season. After starting 2023 with one of the slowest cars in the field, they made a massive step with an upgrade at the ninth race of the season, the Austrian Grand Prix.

From then on, for the final 14 races of the season, Norris was the second-highest scoring driver behind dominant world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

Norris said he felt an emotional pull to McLaren as the team who gave him his shot at F1, and referred to them as "like a family".

But he added that their turnaround under new team principal Andrea Stella, who was appointed in December 2022, was key in convincing him to commit so early to a new deal.

"The turnaround was a big part of it," Norris said in a news conference on Friday.

"Of course, over the last few years there have been a lot of tough ones. I have still enjoyed it, but every now and then you have that little question of: 'Is this the place to be to achieve that next goal?'

"Every driver has it. 'Is this the place I want to be, the best place I can be?' So of course in the back of my head there was: 'Are we improving as much as we should? Am I giving myself the best opportunities?'

"But with how we and Andrea turned things around and how the whole environment is at McLaren currently, that's a big thing which swings it in the direction at McLaren because it is also results-led. "

Norris said that without McLaren's progress through 2023, he would have been likely to wait until 2025 before deciding on this future.

"There are not many other things you can be guaranteed or assured of with any other teams," he said. "It comes back to where will I be happiest and where will I be most confident I can achieve the World Championship? But now I am more confident than ever in saying it's going to be McLaren."

Why Norris decided not to move

Norris' new deal runs until "at least the end of 2026"

Red Bull have said they were interested in Norris for the future.

Norris had spoken to other teams, saying: "Everyone speaks to everyone. It is what can a team offer you? But nothing ever progressed more than that basically. It was shut down quite quickly.

"Really nothing from any other side was convincing enough to make me want to have a proper look at another team.

"I want to be part of this story of turning things around. I also enjoy it - it is a big factor for me. I want to be in the quickest team but I am also here because I love racing and want to have fun and enjoy all that."

Although McLaren refused to reveal the length of Norris' new contract, it is likely to be at least until the end of 2027 - it would be highly unusual for a driver and team with this level of commitment to each other to sign only a one-year extension.

Stella said Norris had all the qualities necessary to be a world champion.

"Lando has grown as a driver and a person since initially joining McLaren in 2017," Stella said. "He impressed last season, playing an important role in our progress throughout the year, securing seven podiums with many fantastic drives.

"Our exciting driver pairing will play an instrumental part in our objective to move towards the front of the grid."

Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri is signed to McLaren until the end of 2026, after the team took up an option on him just halfway through his debut season last year following a series of impressive performances.

Implications on the driver market

Carlos Sainz's contract runs out at the end of the season

Norris' new contract closes down one of the options for Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, whose future is uncertain.

Ferrari announced on Thursday that the Spaniard's team-mate Charles Leclerc had signed a new long-term deal but there was no word about Sainz.

Negotiations between team and driver are said not to be going smoothly. Sainz, whose contract runs out at the end of this season, is said to want a further two years at Maranello, but the team and driver have so far failed to reach an agreement.

One potential opening for Sainz is the second Red Bull seat. Sergio Perez's contract is also up for renewal at the end of this year and the Mexican is under pressure from the team to up his game after a difficult 2023 in which he won only two races to Verstappen's 19.

Sainz is of interest to Audi. The German car giant is entering F1 in 2026 by taking over the Swiss Sauber team, which are running as Stake F1 this season.

Sainz, who was the only driver not in a Red Bull to win a race last year, has also visited Williams since the end of last season.

Can McLaren win in 2024?

Norris is confident of improvement this season

Norris is optimistic of further progress from McLaren this season but stopped short of saying the team could compete for the world title.

The team are in the process of a major restructuring process, which has seen them build a new wind tunnel and driver-in-the-loop simulator.

As part of a reshuffle of their technical department, they have also recruited two major figures from Ferrari and Red Bull, in technical director for performance David Sanchez and technical director for engineering Rob Marshall, who both started work at McLaren at the beginning of this month.

The 2025 car will be the first to be fully developed in the new wind tunnel, and Marshall and Sanchez have also had minimal input into this season's design so far.

Norris said: "With how we improved last year, there were moments we were close to winning, and a few races we were not miles away from a Red Bull. It was my most competitive car ever in F1 and a few races we were extremely close.

"If you were to ask me, can we win races this year, I'd be inclined to say yes. If you ask can we go for a championship, that is a different level for me and the team. But do I feel we are ready to challenge them? Absolutely.

"I am ready to go against Max and Lewis [Hamilton] and fight against them, but it also comes down to consistency and decisions along the way, and you never know how that is going to go."