Zak Brown has admitted McLaren could lose Lando Norris to rival teams if they struggle to compete at the front of the field for longer. Norris has previously suggested that the side have “no excuses” for not competing by 2024 when its new infrastructure will be completed.
The Briton has starred in F1 since his debut in 2019 with a string of impressive performances. Brown’s admission comes after Sky Sports analyst Craig Slater asked if the team needed to “realistically” give Norris a title-fighting-capable car to retain his services.
Brown replied: “Well, yeah, I’m sure. At the end of the day he wants to win the World Championship. Are we, we’re on this journey together so I know there’s some hype around him but he knows what the game plan is and I think we all definitely want to win races and compete for tournament in the not too distant future.
“As long as we do that, I’m sure we’ll be racing together for a long time.
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“We want to finish the story we started, which is to participate in Formula 1 and win the world championship with us.” Speculation swirled about Norris’ future after the youngster enjoyed another impressive season in 2022.
He beat 17-time Red Bull winner Daniel Ricciardo over the course of the season and climbed to the podium despite the team’s lack of pace. Norris has also hinted that he may be ready to step away from McLaren in the future after talks with Christian Horner surfaced.
The Red Bull boss has admitted he spoke with the 23-year-old days before Norris signed an extension to McLaren. Sky Sports F1 host Karun Chandhok has tipped Norris to be Mercedes’ “number one target” should Lewis Hamilton step away from the sport.
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However, the former HRT driver has warned that Norris’ bumper deal with the team could be problematic. Ahead of last season, the British ace put pen to paper on a contract that could keep him at the manufacturer until the end of 2025.
Chandhok warned that this could make the transition from McLaren “difficult” if the car was still not competitive. He commented: “Awesome negotiation by Zack and the team to lock him up. We all know people can be bought on contracts and they are bought all the time.
“Look at Gasly. It happens all the time but it will cost more. It’s going to be difficult.”
