Motorsports
Formula 1: McLaren “ties” Norris until the end of 2025
McLaren has announced the extension of Lando Norris’ contract for a further four years from this year – showing that it has its hopes in Britain for the emergence of its new world champion.
McLaren had disclosed its “multi-year” agreement – as described at the time – with Lando Norris at the Monaco GP last spring, but in fact at the time it had only been given the option to extend their contract.
Now, just before the start of the 2022 season, the Woking team have confirmed the signing of the new contract, meaning Norris will complete 9 years with McLaren in 2025 – following his impressive performance in his first tests with the team in 2017, in the Age of only 18 years. In 2018 he was a backup driver for McLaren and in 19 he occupied one of the two racing positions.
“I grew up with this team and I’m part of the journey we all make”said 22-year-old Norris. “Teams are about people and I feel at home with the McLaren people.”
Norris’ contract extension was perfectly reasonable following his performance in 2021. Despite failing to claim his first win, the Brit finished the championship in 6th place with four podiums and 160. Daniel Ricciardo secured victory at Monza Grad.
“It was another big step we took last season, both in my career and in the team’s performance. I see and feel all the work, investment and dedication of the team to be able to win and win championships in the future.
“The fact that I’ve made the decision to stay with McLaren sends a strong message I think. This is where I want to be, this is where I want to get wins and championships.added Norris, making clear his ambitions for the years to come.
Throughout the season there were – British – reports questioning why Mercedes had chosen George Russell over Norris going forward – and the latter now did not deny that he accepted approaches from other Formula One teams, although they never went into full-scale negotiations.
“We had a few chats here and there”he stressed “But that was all. Obviously nothing went well enough. If something was wrong, I went to Andreas [Σινλτ, διευθυντή της McLaren] and we chatted about what the future holds. “There were little things with various other teams but nothing developed.”concluded Norris, who refused to name the groups approaching him.
Jessica Martinez is an author at Sportish, a publication dedicated to sports news and analysis. She covers various topics related to sports and provides insightful commentary on the latest developments in the world of sports.