Norris extended deal to avoid distraction as McLaren chases wins

Lando Norris says he didn’t want speculation over his future becoming a distraction as McLaren potentially enters a period where it can fight for wins and championships in Formula 1, so was keen to settle his future despite interest from other teams in his services.

McLaren announced a multi-year contract extension with Norris on Friday, keeping the 24-year-old with the team until the end of the 2026 season at the very least. As Norris had a contract until the end of 2025 already, he admits there was no pressure being put on signing a new deal, but given the progress McLaren has made in recent years he wants to ensure there’s long-term stability as he chases victories and championship challenges.

“True [there was no hurry], but also because I can,” Norris said of his decision to extend his McLaren deal. “I’m in a good position. It’s not something I want to worry about over the next few years. There’s always been these discussions going on, on our future, and I think it’s a very good time, especially when it’ll be coming to a couple of years when things start to get a bit more crazy with everyone else’s contracts and people potentially moving teams and things like that.

“And just going into 2026, and those years of the new regulations and everything, it’s not something I or the team want to be thinking of, or focusing on, or spending any time on in such an important couple of years. Yeah -- simply because I can. I’m comfortable, I’m happy with where I am, the team are happy with me so it’s an easy decision.”

Norris admits there were provisional talks with other teams but nothing that was enticing him to explore further, as he wants to achieve success with McLaren.

“Every driver speaks to every team. And it’s not in terms of like everyone’s just sorting out contracts, it’s just what can one team offer you and what can another team offer you and things like that," he said. "It’s the same with every driver -- what could we potentially do one day, but nothing ever progresses more than that, basically.

“We shut down quite quickly, and of course you do start to get some of these questions and you see some of it, then you have talks internally with Andrea [Stella, team principal] and Zak [Brown, CEO] -- with whoever at McLaren -- then you start talking about your own stuff and you do want to put some of these rumors to bed, because it’s not a good [thing] that the team keeps seeing day in day out.

“So that’s why we’ve come to a decision so early on, and so quickly. Hopefully that does put those questions to bed nicely.”