Lando Norris revealed that he held superficial contract talks with several of McLaren’s rivals, but insisted the discussions were “shut down quite quickly” given his desire to remain with team papaya.
On Friday, McLaren and Norris extended their partnership beyond 2025, the term of the Briton’s original deal with the Woking-based outfit, as the pair committed to a multi-year agreement.
McLaren was eager to lock down Norris as early as possible given the 24-year-old’s growing stature in the sport and the significant interest he has garnered from F1’s biggest teams, with both Red Bull and Ferrari cited as potential suitors of his talent.
While acknowledging discussions with other teams, which he maintains are customary practice, Norris made it clear that he was always committed to achieving his Formula 1 aspirations first and foremost with McLaren.
"Everyone speaks to everyone and every driver speaks to every team," he said after announcing his new McLaren deal.
"It's not in terms of just sorting contracts. It's, what can one team offer you, and what can another team offer you, and things like that.
"It's the same with every driver. Everyone speaks to every team on what could we potentially do one day, but nothing ever progressed more than that, basically. So yeah, it was shut down quite quickly.
"And, of course, as soon as you do start to get some of these questions, and I see a lot of it, then you have talks internally with Andrea [Stella] and Zak [Brown] and whoever it is here at McLaren.
"Then you start talking about your own stuff and you do want to put some of these rumours to bed, because it's not a good question at the team."
As a long-standing member of McLaren, which he joined in 2017 as a junior driver, and given the team’s bright prospects, Norris felt that he was “in a good position” with his surrogate family.
“It's not something that I want to really worry about over the next few years,” he explained.
"Obviously, there's always been these discussions going on [regarding] our future. And I think it's just a very, very good time, especially when it's going to be coming to a couple of years where things start to get a bit more crazy with everyone else's contracts, and people potentially moving teams and things like that.
"Going into '26, and those years of new regulations, that's not something I think I or the team want to be thinking of, or focusing on, or spending any time on in such an important couple years.
"I'm comfortable, I'm happy with where I am, and the team are happy with me. So it's just an easy decision."
Norris also argued that demonstrating his commitment to McLaren would help bolster the team's spirit and neutralize any detrimental impact that might arise from rumors connecting him to rival teams.
"I'm sure when you work here and you have one of your drivers, and you see them getting linked to other teams, that's just probably never an easy thing to see," he said.
"So I think from my side, to give everyone here at McLaren just that bit more confidence within me, it shows my confidence in the whole team. I think that's really the most important thing.
"It's the thing I'm happiest about with getting the contract out. They are now even more assured that I'm committed to the team and staying, and that I've picked McLaren over, Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, whatever team, it could have been.
"They now have that reassurance that I've picked McLaren over all of them. So I think it's more for them than it is for myself and all these things, but I do enjoy seeing the rumours and the conspiracies every now and then."
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