Zak Brown is confident Lando Norris’ loyalty lies at McLaren as he hopes the Briton will ‘stick around’ due to the team’s improved form

McLaren CEO Zak Brown is confident that Lando Norris might extend his stay if the success prevails.

Zak Brown is confident Lando Norris’ loyalty lies at McLaren as he hopes the Briton will ‘stick around’ due to the team’s improved form

Lando Norris has finished second in both the British and Hungarian Grands Prix, thanks to McLaren’s significant increase in performance. McLaren CEO Zak Brown is hopeful that the team’s astonishing recent turnaround in form would persuade Lando Norris to “stick around” amid doubt about the Brit’s long-term future. Norris, one of Formula One’s top-rated young drivers, optimised the performance of his improved McLaren to finish second in the two most recent races, in Britain and Hungary, after finishing fourth in Austria in the previous round.

Before McLaren’s improvements turned around an awful start to the season, in which Norris finished higher than eighth only once in the initial eight races, there was conjecture that the 23-year-old Brit might seek a premature release from his contract, which runs until the end of 2025. Recent rumours suggest many teams are keeping tabs on Lando Norris as the British driver is finally showing off his real mojo which we last time saw in the 2021 season.

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Brown told Sky Sports F1 during the Hungarian Grand Prix, “I think the way to keep him is to give him a good race car. And as long as we can provide him with an excellent racing car, he enjoys the surroundings, enjoys the team, and has been on this journey. So I think he’ll stick around as long as we keep doing that.”

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Related: Zak Brown extremely eager to see McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri out-qualifying Lando Norris

McLaren’s drivers and strategy were on point at Silverstone and in Hungary

Lando Norris
Lando Norris (Credits: ESPN)

Norris’ winning run has been ably supplemented by rookie compatriot Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth at Silverstone and fifth at the Hungaroring, the two best performances of his rookie season. Piastri made an opportunistic start, passing Norris – and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes – to go from fourth on the starting grid to second at the first corner, before the Australian remained comfortably clear of his partner on the first stint.

McLaren chose to pit Norris first, allowing the Brit to take benefit of the circuit’s strong undercut and exit from the pit lane ahead of Piastri. McLaren stated that the move was not to reward their more senior driver, but rather to safeguard him against the possibility of Hamilton trying his undercut from fourth position.

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