Lando Norris says McLaren has good things coming in terms of its updates due for the next Formula 1 race in Miami, as he sees the team continuing the progress it has made since last season. McLaren jumped into the fight for podiums following its …
Lando Norris says McLaren has good things coming in terms of its updates due for the next Formula 1 race in Miami, as he sees the team continuing the progress it has made since last season.
McLaren jumped into the fight for podiums following its major car upgrade in Austria last summer and it has remained there in 2024, with Norris finishing second in the Chinese Grand Prix. With upgrades set to be introduced at the next race, Norris says it’s not a case of momentum building but McLaren showing it can hold its own at the front now it is there.
“It’s not building, it’s been there for some time,” Norris said. “Nothing needs to build — nothing needs to be like that. I’ve had confidence in the team for a long time, I’ve had faith that we can improve for a long time — and we have been improving for a long time. We’ve had a good start to the year, we’ve continued to show that, and we’ve got good things coming. So the optimism remains there.”
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Teammate Oscar Piastri finished eighth in China after picking up damage and while he’s excited about the new parts coming in Miami, he says the team has work to do to understand why Shanghai went so well on Sunday.
“Hopefully it makes the car faster, but it will be interesting to see what we can do,” Piastri said. “Obviously for Lando to finish second (in China) is a great result for the team and very unexpected, so we need to understand why the car seemed to be good. Hopefully it makes the car even quicker and we can really start challenging for podiums regularly.”
Team principal Andrea Stella backed-up Piastri’s view that China was not expected to be a good weekend, but wants McLaren to use the pleasant surprise as motivation for future success.
“We expected the weekend in China to be a case of damage limitation but, in reality, it proved to be our strongest weekend of the season so far,” Stella said. “Pole position in the Sprint, a strong qualifying performance ahead of the grand prix and then a podium for Lando — and a podium on merit.
“It’s a great credit to the hard work put in by the drivers, the team trackside, at the factory and everyone at HPP, and a nice reward for us, our partners and our fans. I’m very happy for everyone involved.
“On Oscar’s side, the damage he received during the race robbed him of downforce and meant it was impossible to fight for higher positions; but he drove really well, adapting to the changed balance of the car, and did a good job to add points to our tally.
“It feels good to have a result like this. A big thank you to everyone involved — now we need to keep improving and working hard to have more days like this. The only way to do that is to improve the car. Bring on Miami!”
Lando Norris says his second place at the Chinese Grand Prix came as such a surprise because he expected to be “nowhere near top three” based on the Sprint. McLaren struggled for race pace compared to Red Bull and Ferrari in the Sprint, with Norris …
Lando Norris says his second place at the Chinese Grand Prix came as such a surprise because he expected to be “nowhere near top three” based on the Sprint.
McLaren struggled for race pace compared to Red Bull and Ferrari in the Sprint, with Norris losing the lead at the start of the race and slipping to seventh, eventually finishing sixth. As a result he thought fifth place was McLaren’s likely best finish from his starting position of fourth behind the Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso, but he cleared the Aston Martin early on and then used strategy to beat Sergio Perez to second.
“A big improvement today compared to yesterday,” Norris said. “So I think that’s why we were probably a bit surprised. I’m surprised to be sitting here today, but it’s a nice surprise of course. Difficult to say, we’ve been struggling a little bit — I’m sure everyone does — with certain things throughout the whole season, which have always been limiting us.
“It probably felt similar-ish to Australia. Australia, I felt comfortable and the car felt pretty good as well. So just much better today, things came alive today, the conditions cooled down, the wind calmed down and both of these things, I think, played into our hands a little bit more.
“That’s why yesterday, if you asked me, ‘What do we expect for today?’ it definitely was nowhere near top three, or even maybe top five. So, a pleasant surprise. The car felt much better, but obviously, not quick enough to match the Red Bulls.”
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Norris insists there was no downplaying of expectations at McLaren, with the car just performing better in certain areas and the race playing out more smoothly than in the Sprint.
“We were just quicker than we thought,” he said. “The limitations, the places we expected to struggle, probably a lot more, we didn’t struggle as much in. So these longer corners, like Turn 1, have always been a big weakness for us. Part of Turn 1 was probably better than we’re expecting and the second part was probably as we were expecting.
“So it’s just we’re still learning about the car. It’s as simple as that. This track is very different. The tarmac is quite odd. Maybe that played into our hands a bit more than we were thinking, maybe with the old tarmac, we would have struggled a bit more. So just little things. We’re not making it up. We’re giving our honest opinion on where we want to be.
“I think if we were to go into a weekend, and we knew we’re going to be strong, we’ve said it. So more often than not, we don’t feel that optimistic, because all year we’ve been behind Red Bull, all year we’ve been behind Ferrari, there’s no reason for us to suddenly think we should be ahead.
“Nothing really pointed to us having an amazing race today, especially the Sprint race yesterday, which was our best kind of version of events of what can go down. But things just went to plan and kind of went very smoothly from that point onwards.
“I didn’t make a mistake in Turn 1 and go off, that’s a good start! Got past the Aston and then you can just control the race. And that was very different to yesterday.”
Lando Norris admits he was nervous heading into Sprint qualifying because McLaren was quick in the dry, before setting the fastest time with an “all or nothing” final lap at the Chinese Grand Prix. Teammate Oscar Piastri was second fastest in the …
Lando Norris admits he was nervous heading into Sprint qualifying because McLaren was quick in the dry, before setting the fastest time with an “all or nothing” final lap at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Teammate Oscar Piastri was second fastest in the only practice session on Friday morning, with Norris set to go comfortably quickest before aborting his best timed lap. However, rain started falling during SQ2 and created extremely slippery conditions for the final part of the session, with Norris overcoming a deleted lap time to lead Lewis Hamilton and the rest of the field by over a second.
“I’m extremely happy first of all, so big thanks to the whole team,” Norris said. “You’re always nervous going into a session like this, especially before qualifying when you almost know it’s going to rain and I was quite happy with how it was in the dry.
“They were conditions where you’ve just got to risk a lot — you’ve just got to push, build tire temperature and so forth. I was quick — I kept catching the Ferrari so I had to keep backing off! So I didn’t do the first two laps well at all, but I got a good final one, good enough for pole so I’m happy. Sad it’s not for a proper qualifying, but good enough.”
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Norris says there was no other option but to take risks in order to try and keep temperature in his tires and find lap time, with a number of drivers struggling in the conditions.
“You only have three laps — the first two I aborted on both so the last lap was all or nothing,” he said. “But it was getting wetter and wetter, so actually the conditions on the final two laps were a lot worse than the second lap at least. So I was a little bit nervous that I made a few mistakes, started to aquaplane quite a bit, but it’s good fun. It gets your heart going, and to end up on top is exactly what we wanted. So a nice surprise and a good position for tomorrow.”
However, the McLaren driver admits he’s not sure how competitive his car will be over the Sprint race distance on Saturday due to the lack of practice and low grip conditions throughout Friday.
“Not a clue! But we did some of our homework this morning,” he said. “We did some consecutive laps to try and understand. But it depends what the weather is — there’s still a chance of rain tomorrow, so if it’s like this then I think the chances are relatively decent. But the race is still very different to qualifying, so I’m sure everyone is going to catch up a bit tomorrow.
“But the pace is good whether it’s wet or dry and I think we’re in a good position. The team did a good job, the car’s feeling good and so am I. And it’s paying off.”
Lando Norris will start Saturday’s Shanghai Sprint race from pole position after mastering a wet and wild sprint qualifying session at the Chinese Grand Prix. In soaking-wet conditions Norris was dramatically promoted to top spot when he had a …
Lando Norris will start Saturday’s Shanghai Sprint race from pole position after mastering a wet and wild sprint qualifying session at the Chinese Grand Prix.
In soaking-wet conditions Norris was dramatically promoted to top spot when he had a previously deleted lap time reinstated by the stewards. His pole time, a 1m57.940s, had been erased for Norris having run off the track at the last corner on the previous lap. Ordinarily that warrants the deletion of both that lap and the following tour to minimize the risk of a driver gaining an advantage from a mistake. But the treacherously slippery conditions following a sudden deluge meant there was no way to argue Norris had been advantaged by his mistake.
Lando Norris leads the way in the wet. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
Apparently acknowledging that the McLaren driver set slower times in the first two sectors than on his previous laps, the stewards allowed the lap to stand, returning the Briton to top spot with a 1.261-second margin on Lewis Hamilton.
“It was tricky,” he said. “You’re always nervous going into a session like this. You’ve just got to risk lot. You’ve got to push for tire temperature and so forth.
“I’m sad it’s not for a proper qualifying, but it’s good enough.”
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The downpour shortly before the start of the Sprint pole-getting segment completely changed the complexion of the session.
The circuit yielded extremely low grip, which not only made the track very slippery but made tire warm-up painfully difficult. Lap times were almost half a minute slower than in the dry during FP1.
Hamilton was an unlikely front-row starter in that context, having struggled badly for tire temperature at the start of the segment. He was the only driver to voluntarily choose to pit for a new set of intermediates, fresh from their blankets, which paid big dividends by delivering a time quick enough to start second alongside Norris.
Fernando Alonso qualified third ahead of Max Verstappen, who lost two of three laps spearing off the road in the slippery conditions, once at Turn 6 and later through the gravel at the final turn.
Carlos Sainz will start fifth ahead of Sergio Perez and a fortunate Charles Leclerc, who spun off the road and into the barriers at the start of SQ3 but escaped without serious damage and was able to continue.
Oscar Piastri qualified eighth ahead of Sauber teammates Valtteri Bottas and home favorite Zhou Guanyu.
George Russell was knocked out in SQ2 by just 0.038s after rain arrived to disrupt the final minutes of the segment, calling off the final laps..
Ironically the start of SQ2 had been delayed by several minutes due to a grass fire at Turn 7. It was the second fire of the day at that corner, believed to be caused by the sparks generated by the cars as they bottomed out on a bump in the middle of that corner.
Haas teammates Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg will lines up 12th and 13th for Saturday’s Sprint ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and an underwhelming Lance Stroll in 14th and 15th.
Pierre Gasly beat Esteban Ocon to 16th by 0.088s despite not running the upgrades enjoyed by his Alpine teammate.
Alex Albon was 18th ahead of a frustrated Yuki Tsunoda, who waited until late to set a representative time, and Logan Sargeant.
There was a bit of a theme among some of the pre-season predictions this year centered around the dynamic between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The young Australian’s strong rookie season was great for McLaren, as it signalled a formidable line-up …
There was a bit of a theme among some of the pre-season predictions this year centered around the dynamic between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
The young Australian’s strong rookie season was great for McLaren, as it signalled a formidable line-up that it has locked down for years to come. But Norris had offered up a number of apologies for small mistakes – mainly in qualifying – towards the end of 2023, and it just raised the question of whether he is feeling a little bit of pressure.
By his own refreshing admission, he does see Piastri as the biggest threat to his reputation since entering Formula 1 himself in 2019.
“I’ll just be honest and say yes,” Norris tells RACER. “Because (the expectation) is (on me), it always is. I’ve never been afraid to say it, because it’s the truth. Your biggest threat is always your teammate, in terms of how you perform.
“It never means you go against each other. It’s just the person you compare to the most, and the person other people compare you to the most is your teammate. So you always think like that. And he’s doing a very good job and he’s pushing me more than I’ve been pushed over the last few years. That’s a good thing; a good thing for me.”
But both drivers can be pleased with how they’ve handled the situation so far. Piastri has been close to Norris at all times and beat him in Saudi Arabia, but it’s the more experienced of the two who took the first podium on offer in Melbourne, and had the upper hand in Bahrain.
Norris got the upper hand in Bahrain as well as Australia. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
Piastri sits a point ahead of Norris at this early stage of the season, but instead of that being a negative, the Briton feels the overall performance is helping both of them raise their game.
“I think just the level is higher, more than feeling like I have to suddenly do more,” he says. “The bar is a little bit higher, there’s just a little bit more focus. My job is always try and drive as quickly as I can, it’s just when you have a better teammate, there’s just some more areas you learn ‘OK, maybe you can do a bit more of this or a bit more of that’, and there’s always a place that he’s gonna be quicker. So you can always learn from that.
“You always have a little bit of that, but I still come into the weekend the same way – that’s always been to work as hard as I can with the group around me to get the most out of myself. As simple as that.”
The focus on the McLaren pair is also arguably greater because of the position that the team has progressed into. A year ago it was miles off the pace and struggling to escape Q1, but by mid-season it was a regular podium contender. That’s something it has maintained over the off-season and marks the biggest difference between the current team and previous iterations of McLaren that Norris has been part of.
Since then the 24-year-old has committed his long-term future to the team, and admits the way 2023 eventually panned out played a part in him doing so.
“I think last year was kind of the year which kind of decided a bit more what was going to happen,” he says. “Because if we still struggled last year just as much as we did at the beginning, and we didn’t really turn things around, then I think things could be potentially quite different.
“So I think last year was a deciding… like an important year for the team to kind of show what they were capable of doing. Because that was then five years of improving a bit, like taking a step back, improving a bit, step back, and not cementing it and consistently moving forward.
“And I think that’s the thing we’ve kind of missed. For the first time we’ve done it from last year to this year a bit more. So that’s really been the biggest thing. But last year was an important year for the team to show them that they can do the steps that they need to do.”
The consolidation of McLaren’s position in the pecking order this year has still come with the caveat that there were development items that were not yet ready for the launch specification of car, and will be delivered later in the season.
McLaren’s turnaround began in Austria last year. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
It’s not the same situation as a year ago, when it took until the Austrian Grand Prix in the middle of the European season to make a step, but it does mean there are upgrades due around the Miami weekend next month that could move McLaren further forward.
For Norris, it’s important that expectations are kept in check given where the team currently finds itself and the scope for improvement, but he’s hopeful that the coming months will see a continuation of the momentum that McLaren has built up under Andrea Stella.
“I still want to believe that, for sure,” he says. “I think to achieve what we did last year is impossible, because that was such a big jump, because we had such a bad car! It’s much easier to do that than to have a good car and make it an insanely good car, you know?
“Everything starts to plateau a little bit. But there’s still plenty of things that we’re looking into and we know we have coming. Pure developments, improving everything a bit on the car, focusing on certain areas; things that I’ve been struggling with quite a bit over the last few years, and things that we’ve not been able to really tackle.
“Now that we’re in a better place, and we can have more focus on specific areas rather than just going ‘we just need a good car’. These are extra things which allow me to push more or be more consistent and extract more from the car itself, which will lead to more performance.
“So now we’re starting to attack some of those areas, which again will take time, that also gives me some good feelings of what we can we can achieve together.”
For now “together” includes the teammate that is pushing Norris so hard. He and Piastri enjoy a strong relationship and have worked well together on track – the latest example came as the pair chased a podium in Melbourne, where Piastri fully understood the need for him to move aside for Norris based on strategy decisions.
The only remaining test for the pair is if McLaren delivers a regular race-winning car, but for now the partnership sees each only serving to further strengthen the other’s reputation.
Carlos Sainz has stepped up another level so far this season and anyone who underrates him is “silly”, according to Lando Norris. Ferrari has signed Lewis Hamilton to replace Sainz in 2025; the seven-time world champion to partner Charles Leclerc, …
Carlos Sainz has stepped up another level so far this season and anyone who underrates him is “silly”, according to Lando Norris.
Ferrari has signed Lewis Hamilton to replace Sainz in 2025; the seven-time world champion to partner Charles Leclerc, who has come through the team’s driver academy. That leaves Sainz in search of a new home for next season, but after returning from an appendectomy to secure victory in Melbourne – a result that adds to his podium in Bahrain on his only other start this season – Norris says his former teammate’s quality is shining through.
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“There’s no reason anyone should think he’s underrated,” Norris said. “I think for the people who know him, know what he’s capable of doing, know his effort level, his approach and dedication to wanting to be one of the best, exactly like he’s proved [in Australia], and over the last couple of weeks.
“I’m sure you have plenty of drivers who probably wouldn’t have tried as hard and dedicated so much of their time and effort to trying to recover and get back in the race car. And I think that’s just one example of it. But for the people who know what he’s capable of doing, you would never ever say he’s underrated.
“Of course, results are always a bit of a point to show and people on the outside just easily judge things from what you see on TV. But when you’ve worked with him, when you know what he’s capable of doing, and when things click, they click very well and he has performances like he does [in Melbourne]. And I would say all year, he’s proved to be a step up from maybe what he has been last year. Yeah, you’re silly if you underrate him.”
Sainz’s current teammate Leclerc agrees, and he expects the Spaniard to be in high demand as he weighs up his next move.
“I think everybody knows Carlos’ worth in the paddock,” Leclerc said. “He’s one of the highest-rated drivers in the paddock. And he’s been extremely strong every time he was in a Formula 1 car. And he has showed it multiple times. So I don’t think he’s underrated for that.
“I think everybody knows Carlos’ worth. And that’s why I’ve said many times that I’m not too worried about his future, because I’m sure that many, many team principals are… He doesn’t say it, but for sure they are speaking with him! And I’m sure he will have many opportunities and he’ll just have to make the best choice for his career.”
Lando Norris believes he should have finished ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Australian Grand Prix after ending up third behind the two Ferraris. Carlos Sainz took a relatively comfortable victory after overtaking Max Verstappen prior to the Red …
Lando Norris believes he should have finished ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Australian Grand Prix after ending up third behind the two Ferraris.
Carlos Sainz took a relatively comfortable victory after overtaking Max Verstappen prior to the Red Bull’s early retirement, with Norris running second to Sainz at the time. However, Ferrari stopped Leclerc earlier than Norris at the end of the first stint and used the undercut to get ahead, also covering off a McLaren response later on and securing a one-two finish.
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“I think when you take the Red Bull out of it I would say, no [a podium was not unexpected],” Norris said. “I think our pace has been good all weekend. We put things together very nicely [in qualifying]. We showed a good long run and high-fuel pace on Friday. So I wouldn’t have said we had no chance.
“I didn’t expect probably us to be competing against the Ferraris. I think our pace was not as good as Carlos, but probably better than Charles. So I think if I was being honest we maybe missed out a little bit on an opportunity to be P2. But yeah, for us to say that is a good sign. And I think it’s a good positive for the whole team.
“It’s a good boost. It’s nice to be back on the podium. Whether or not the Red Bull was there or not our pace was good and hopefully that continues for more races.”
Expanding on where he feels McLaren could have reacted differently, Norris says an earlier second pit stop to try and regain track position was the only likely move that would have succeeded.
“I mean, we didn’t leave anything on the table but the lap we were going to undercut, he boxed. So then again you have to go off and do kind of a different strategy. We got close in the second stint. I got very close. If I boxed, I think I would have undercut. But he boxed, so I missed that opportunity.
“So you always think, what happens if we did it one lap earlier? But it’s tough to make all those decisions at the time. And it can easily go wrong at the same time. There are always consequences of doing so.
“I think we still did a very good job. Third and fourth for us, as a team, is positive and a good load of points. But they were clearly a better team, and they have a better car at the minute. So whether or not we could beat them, they have a better car, they have a quicker car, and we have to work harder until we can match what they’re doing.”
Lando Norris admits he and his McLaren team haven’t fought for a championship in so long that he’s unsure how both would react if an upcoming car is capable of mounting a challenge. McLaren showed a clear step forward during the 2023 season, turning …
Lando Norris admits he and his McLaren team haven’t fought for a championship in so long that he’s unsure how both would react if an upcoming car is capable of mounting a challenge.
McLaren showed a clear step forward during the 2023 season, turning around a poor start to end the year in fourth in the constructors’ championship and enjoy a number of races as Red Bull’s closest challenger. Norris says that shows he’s with a team that has the potential to take the fight to Red Bull and Max Verstappen, but having not been in such a position since joining Formula 1 he admits both he and the team will need to learn how to handle that situation.
“It’s such a difficult question [if McLaren can win a title before 2026],” Norris said. “But with how we improved last year with the trajectory, with the knowledge of what we can further improve on with our learnings from last year… There was moments we were close to winning races last year, main races, and a few races we were not miles away from a Red Bull.
“And last year, when you think of it it was the most competitive cars ever in Formula 1, and a few races we were extremely, extremely close. So with the knowledge of if you want to win one race, we’re the closest we’ve ever been since I’ve been here at McLaren and for many, many years. But fighting for a championship is a bigger step.
“If you ask me do I think I can win races this year, I’d be more inclined to say yes, but to go straight into winning races and a championship, I think that’s another level. Both for myself — racing at the very top is not something I’ve necessarily done for a while — but also for the whole team, for everyone here at the factory, it’s a different kind of level and excitement; for mechanics, a different level of pressure and excitement.”
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Despite his reservations about what it would be like to fight for the title, Norris says he feels he has the skills to compete with the best and that McLaren has shown it is putting all the pieces in place to do the same.
“I think it’s just something you have to ask yourself every now and then, but do I think we’re ready to challenge them? Yeah absolutely. In those situations — and there’s opportunities where we’ve been fighting against Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, and going against them head to head in strategy, pit stops, all of those things — the majority of times we’ve executed them extremely well.
“So when it comes to pressure, I think everyone is in a very good position but as soon as you do mention fighting for a championship, everyone’s mentality just changes a little bit. I feel I’m ready to go against Max and Lewis [Hamilton] and fight against them, but it also just comes down to consistency and small decisions along the way, which are hard to predict when you’re going against these guys as you never know what their next move is and same thing they never know what your next move is.
“So, yeah, a championship? I dunno. As much as I’d 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, we see how we do this year and you can ask me that question again.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Lando Norris stands among the world champions he has worked with in the past, including Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. Stella worked with both Schumacher and Alonso at Ferrari – where he also worked …
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Lando Norris stands among the world champions he has worked with in the past, including Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.
Stella worked with both Schumacher and Alonso at Ferrari – where he also worked with Kimi Raikkonen – and then spent further time alongside Alonso and Jenson Button at McLaren. Now team principal at the latter, Stella has overseen the decision to secure Norris’ future until at least the end of 2026, and says he has the ability to join those other names as a world champion.
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“Lando definitely stands together with them,” Stella said. “It’s the same category, same kind of world championship material, the underlying talent, the mindset, the work ethos, it’s all ready to go.
“At the same time when you think about champions there’s a characteristics of champions, it’s they only get better. Real champions, they seem to just improve year by year, and I think that’s the case because they use their intelligence, their ethos, they get the best people around them, they do whatever it takes to get better and better because the sport gets only more and more competitive.
“So definitely we have all the raw material, which we saw already, when Lando was doing the free practice one with us, it was very evident in 2018, then it kept growing. It’s there, we just need to keep growing year after year, which every champion does, but we are extremely happy and committed to Lando in this respect.”
Norris says the atmosphere and comfort he feels within McLaren has allowed him to develop to this stage of his career, and played a major role in him wanting to remain with the team regardless of potential interest from elsewhere.
“I definitely always wanted to be convinced McLaren is my future,” Norris said. “Of course we’ve gone through some harder years recently, and things definitely didn’t pick up as much as we were hoping, between 20, 21, 22, beginning of 23. But also, a lot has changed.
“There are always going to be little things going on backwards and forwards between people. But in terms of keeping my concentration where it needs to be, which is just on the driving and continuing to focus on that [McLaren is best] – and especially with how we turned things around last year, and with what we know we can still achieve and do with even more things coming our way in terms of personnel and infrastructure. There’s still things which are coming online, and just getting warmed up.
“Considering we were able to do what we did last year, considering it’s a team I have been with since the beginning, it’s a team I want to continue my story with in terms of reaching my goal of winning races, and winning championships. McLaren is a team I want to do it with.
“They are the ones who have brought me into F1, they have given me this opportunity so in some ways I feel like I also owe it to them, but I’m just very much part of the family and also very much enjoying where I am.
“That’s always a big part of it. I don’t want to enjoy another team and not enjoy anything. I’m part of the family, I’m excited to be part of that family – especially on the trajectory we are on – I think it’s been the most important factor in all of this.”
Racer’s Chris Medland reported on Friday that McLaren is extending the contract of British driver Lando Norris. The move comes alongside a recent extension to their other driver in Australian Oscar Piastri, and while we know that contract ends in 2026, this contract is said to simply extend “well beyond” Norris’ current deal that would have seen him stay until 2025.
While Leclerc raced one season with Sauber before heading to Ferrari, Norris has always been a McLaren man. He joined McLaren in 2019 alongside Carlos Sainz directly from his last Formula 2 season, and has since teamed with Daniel Ricciardo and Piastri.
Lando Norris has signed a multi-year contract extension with McLaren, taking him "well beyond his current contract” that expired at the end of 2025 #F1
During his stint at McLaren, Norris 633 points and 13 podiums. He hasn’t won a race yet, with his highest place being second, a spot on the podium he has held seven times.
Norris placed sixth in the World Driver’s Championship in 2023, outscoring Piastri 205-97. He was one point behind fourth place, occupied by both Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso at 206 points.
