At just 23, Lando Norris is already considered to be one of the best drivers on the Formula 1 grid. In 2022, he pretty much carried McLaren on his back. He scored around 76 percent of the team’s total points tally, and also finished third, on the podium, in Imola – the only podium for a driver outside the top three teams last season. But he shouldn’t have been in this position.
Obviously, both McLaren and Norris want to compete in the front. The team have been unable to do this since 2013, after Lewis Hamilton’s exit. After seeing the team struggle in the last season opener in Bahrain, many questioned the wisdom of the Briton signing a long-term deal with them. His current contract runs until 2025. However, Zak Brown is convinced that they can give him a race-winning car, and stop him from leaving for another team.
Recently, in an interview with ESPN, Brown branded Norris as the team’s ‘franchise driver’: “Lando’s a franchise driver. Lando’s one of those guys if we put everyone in a dirt buggy and we put all the F1 drivers in a race, he’d be at the front because he’s got that kind of natural talent. He’s a total star. And he’s pushing us.” For the upcoming season, he will be joined by Oscar Piastri – an incredibly exciting, and young pairing. McLaren are completely set in the drivers’ department.
Read More: Lando Norris reveals he held contract negotiations with many teams before settling for McLaren
Zak Brown: Lando Norris ‘as good as anyone’ in F1
Zak Brown considers Lando Norris to be a part of the current tier of ‘top drivers’, calling him ‘unbelievably fast’ but also highlighting the relative lack of mistakes – big ones anyways (except that one in Sochi, back in 2021). Sometime before Norris had made his debut, he went up ‘against’ Fernando Alonso in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2018, for McLaren’s sports car team. And he raised eyebrows there as well.
Brown’s felt that Norris is ‘as good as anyone’ on the Formula 1 grid since that day. He said: “I think Fernando is as good as any F1 driver there’s every been… and Lando matches him, and depending on what time of day it was, maybe he even got him a little bit, and vice versa. You see that natural talent. You do get some drivers who are a one-make discipline and you throw them in a unique situation and they don’t get up to speed as quickly.”
McLaren must achieve their goal of ‘building a race-winning car’ in order to keep Norris around, and satisfied. It’ll certainly be interesting to see what he can do with a much better package – considering he’s already raised enough eyebrows in the midfield.
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