Lando Norris extends his F1 contract with McLaren until 2025
Lando Norris has announced a new deal that will see the British driver remain with McLaren until 2025. The contract is a strong statement of the driver’s confidence in the team as Formula One prepares to enter a new era.
With the 2022 season’s car launches under way, Max Verstappen has also said he is raring to go and take on Lewis Hamilton for the world championship. The Dutch driver won the title for the first time last year and at the launch of his new Red Bull RB18 car was confident in his ability to defend his crown.
New regulations for the coming season ensure there will be no guarantees as to how competitive any team’s car will be but Norris clearly believes, in that climate, that McLaren can compete for race wins and even championships. The 22-year-old is entering his fourth season in the sport and last year achieved the best performances of his career. He took his first pole in Russia and would have converted it to a win but for late rain. He did manage four podium finishes and came sixth in the final standings.
Norris revealed that he had been in talks with other teams but has opted to stick with McLaren, whom he joined in 2019. “Which teams? That is something I can’t say but you can probably guess,” he said. “I had to look at all the options. There were little chats here and there, but that is all, and nothing went further than that. The fact that I would have had those opportunities but have chosen to stay with McLaren is a strong message that this is where I want to be.”
After a tightly fought contest, Verstappen beat Hamilton to the title with victory in the final race in Abu Dhabi. It was a controversial finale given the intervention of the race director, Michael Masi, and there has been further furore regarding Verstappen’s win on social media during the past couple of days, specifically in relation to radio messages delivered by Red Bull’s sporting director, Jonathan Wheatley, to Masi during the chaotic final lap in which Wheatley made suggestions as to how Masi should deal with lapped cars, further adding to the sense among many – Hamilton supporters especially – that the race director was influenced in Red Bull’s favour.
However, the radio messages have been public since F1 released them on video four days after the race in December, and the FIA responded to the social media storm by noting it had already taken them into account as part of the inquiry into what went on in Abu Dhabi, the findings of which will be presented on Monday. “We are aware of this and it is part of the investigation,” read a statement from the governing body.
Verstappen has been consistent in his stance that he won the title fair and square and, as he enters his eighth year in F1, the 24-year-old is more than ready to do battle again. “I am just looking forward to getting back in the car and start driving, to see how everything is handling,” he said. “Personally I feel good, what is important is you prepare yourself in the best way possible physically but in terms of the car we don’t know, so I am curious to see how it will behave on track.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s team principal, is bullish about his driver’s chances. “Max was just phenomenal last year, an outstanding season for him,” he said. “His confidence is going to be sky high for 2022.”