McLaren reveal Lando Norris plan to stop rival team poaching him away

Zak Brown is confident Lando Norris will stay with McLaren simply on one condition – to keep giving him a good car to work with on the track.

Norris currently has a contract with McLaren until the end of the 2025 season, but that has not stopped the rumour mill firing out potential moves to either Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull in future.

For the first time in his F1 career, the British star has recorded back-to-back podium finishes thanks to a huge step up in performance from the once-maligned MCL60.

‘Lando Norris loves McLaren’

But, as Norris continues to catch the eye, the inevitable questions about his McLaren future are not too far behind.

Asked whether he is concerned about losing Norris to a rival team, Brown said that his star driver “bleeds papaya” and there is only one thing he needs to do to keep him racing for them.

“I think the way you keep him is to give him a good race car,” Brown told Sky Sports F1 after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“And as long as we can give him a good race car, well he loves the environment, he loves the team. He’s been on this journey [with us].

“Obviously we were all a bit frustrated at the start of the year but now he has two second place finishes. I think as long as we keep doing that, then then he’ll stick around.”

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Lando Norris being “kept on his toes” at McLaren

It is not just Lando Norris catching the eye at McLaren, as new recruit Oscar Piastri is also pumping in impressive performances to the point where it is easy to forget that F1 2023 is his rookie season.

Although the wait goes on for Piastri to clinch his first-ever F1 podium, Brown was asked whether Norris views the very competitive Aussie as a threat.

Brown replied: “He’s definitely keeping Lando on his toes. But no, Lando enjoys it and they get along really well. Lando is a very open book and they’re both racing for the team.

“In the debriefs and talking on the radio…they want to do what’s best for the team.

“Oscar is very calm. He’s very mature for his age and he is a student. When you watch him over the weekend, he looks at the data, he ask questions and then he goes out and applies it on the next run or the next day and, come qualifying, he’s right there. So he’s a very mature driver.”

The McLaren boss was also grilled on a controversial pit strategyin Hungary, which saw Norris appearing to receive preferential treatment despite the fact that Piastri was ahead of his team-mate at the time.

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