Lando Norris urged to ‘push’ for McLaren exit and seal shock F1 2026 move

Former F1 team manager Peter Windsor believes Lando Norris should be “pushing” for a move to Audi in 2026, should the opportunity present itself.

Norris is contracted with McLaren until the end of 2025, though Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has made no secret of his desire to see the Briton eventually partner Max Verstappen at his team.

But with Audi’s entry as a factory team further down the road when their majority takeover of Sauber completes, with their 2026 power unit already in production, Audi will be one of six factory teams on the Formula 1 grid in the 2026 season.

If Audi offer Lando Norris 2026 deal, ‘could you say no to that?’

Windsor is a vocal believer in the potential of the Audi Formula 1 project, given the phenomenal success the brand has had in other motorsport series in the past, alongside its track record with electrification that will prove crucial to the 2026 Formula 1 regulations.

Coupled with Norris having worked with Andreas Seidl at McLaren, who left the team at the start of the year to head up Sauber as CEO as Audi transition into their Formula 1 role, Windsor believes that the German marque could be the right fit for the McLaren driver, if he chooses to leave the team when his contract expires at the end of 2025.

“I’m sure [Red Bull] would like Lando. He’s very good isn’t he, and he’s a Red Bull sort of guy and all the rest of it,” Windsor explained on aYouTubelive stream while answering fan questions.

“To me, I’d love to see Lando in an Audi in 2026 with Théo Pourchaire in the other car, and I’d like to see Liam Lawson in a Red Bull sooner rather than later.

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“兰多,我可以想象想要离开迈凯轮way it is with Oscar. I can imagine Lando isn’t going to want to stay at McLaren forever, although Zak [Brown] has put a lot into Lando. Is he going to want him to leave?

“But to me, if Audi were on the phone, and I was Lando Norris now and Audi said to me or Andreas Seidl said to me: ‘Number one driver, ’26 onwards, Audi factory team, may not be brilliant [in] ’26, but we know what we’re doing. We’ve done a massive amount of electrification in not only World Endurance, but also rallies, and we’ve got serious people, and this is Audi.’ Could you say no to that?

“To me, that’s the way. If I was Lando, I’d be pushing for that right now, and if I was Andreas I’d be looking to put Pourchaire in the other car right now.”

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