Norris more than ever willing 'to stick it out' with McLaren

Lando Norris says his confidence that he can achieve success in F1 with McLaren is as high as it has ever been which is helping fuel his loyalty towards the Woking-based outfit.

Norris, who along with Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and George Russell figures among the sport's most talented young drivers, began his career in Formula 1 with McLaren in 2019.

But contrary to his fellow gifted racers the Briton has yet to secure his maiden Grand Prix win.

That shortfall is through no fault of his own but resides with McLaren's own relative level of performance.

But over the summer, the team has undeniably become more competitive, with Norris enjoying successive podiums in Britain and in Hungary as a result of the positive development of McLaren's MCL60.

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And the team's improvements have only reinforced Norris' confidence that success with team papaya is on the horizon with team papaya.

"I want to win races with McLaren. I want to win in papaya, I want to win championships," Norris told Sky F1 at Spa last weekend.

"I want to achieve my success and I want to achieve my goals with McLaren. That’s been my target since I’ve come here, since I’ve entered Formula 1 with this team.

"I guess I’m a loyal guy from that point of view, that I’ve joined the team, they gave me a chance in Formula 1 and I want to deliver and achieve success for them.

"And I think it’s a cooler story at the same time, to go from where we were a few years ago – a team that was really struggling – to fighting back and being that first team to really come back from a long way and fight for championships and wins.

"I think it would be just a cool story to look back on in 10, 20 years."

As one of the brightest talents on the grid, Norris is a coveted asset for the sport's top teams, including Red Bull which has held unformal talks with the 23-year-old in the past.

And the Briton admits that he has pondered a change of scenery.

"In the back of my mind, there’s that impatient game of, ‘do I stick it out for another few years, or is it time to look at something different?'" he said.

"But the more we achieve things as we have done over the past few weeks, the more I’m very confident with the decision I made to stay until 2025, and the more confident I am that we can achieve our goals together in the future."

But McLaren will need to hold up its end of the bargain to keep Norris happy and in the team.

"I think the way you keep him is to give him a good race car," said McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown earlier this summer.

"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 he’ll stick around."

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