Lando Norris finished the 2021 season for McLaren racing with four podium finishes and a first pole position.
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Lando Norris has revealed he held talks with other teams in Formula One before agreeing to a new contract with McLaren, a deal which extends his commitment to the British manufacturer through to the end of the 2025 season.
Norris signed a contract extension with McLaren last May before a new agreement was reached and announced on Wednesday ahead of the 2022 season. In revealing the deal, McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl said it was a significant step in the team’s “journey to world championship contention”.
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Seidl added that McLaren were keen to “lock Norris in place”, with the British driver then revealing that there had been interest teams who were also in a position to contend for the championship. Norris said he held “little chats” with other teams but insisted that he been upfront with McLaren about any discussions he was involved in.
While the 22-year-old did not say who he had held talks with, Norris dropped a clue that fans could “probably be able to guess reasonably well” who those teams were, suggesting that Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari may have enquired about his future plans.
McLaren have not won a world championship since Lewis Hamilton’s first title in 2008 and the 37-year-old’s current deal with Mercedes is set to expire at the end of the 2023 season, with George Russell taking the other seat with the team from this season.
“There were opportunities that I think we knew would be coming up in the future with various teams,” Norris said following the announcement of his new contract on Wednesday. “This is a very strong message to put out [about] the faith we have in each other and how strongly I believe McLaren can recover still and get to the front in the next few years, even with those opportunities that could arise in one year, two years, three years’ time.
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“There were little chats here and there but that’s all and nothing went far, As soon as something came up, that’s when I would then continue going to Andreas and have a little conversation about what our future holds and so on. There were little things, no point lying about it, there were little things here and there with other teams, but nothing that went far at all.”
Norris finished the 2021 season with four podium finishes and a first pole position. The British driver came close to his first victory at the Russian Grand Prix, only to see a late gamble to stay on dry tyres in wet conditions backfire.
McLaren were involved in a battle with Ferrari for third place in the constructors’ championship last season and at the Italian Grand Prix won their first race in 170 attempts as Daniel Ricciardo and Norris secured a one-two.
