Lando Norris extends McLaren deal through 2025

Lando Norris will stay with McLaren until at least the end of the 2025 season after extending his contract with the Formula One team.

Norris is one of F1’s most exciting and popular young talents. He debuted with McLaren in 2019 and enjoyed a standout 2021 season, in which he had four podium finishes and claimed a first F1 pole position.

Norris signed a multi-year extension in May last year but McLaren has moved quickly to further extend the British driver’s deal for another season.

Norris and McLaren announced the new deal on Wednesday, two days before the team launches its new car for the 2022 season, which starts with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20.

With new rules in place for 2022 and McLaren showing clear upward progress in recent seasons, Norris believes McLaren is the place he will win the F1 world championship.

“This is for the solidarity of me and the team and just to really put the confidence in both of us for the long-term,” he said. “I see that as a benefit, one for myself: to have this longer contract and stay here for a while, and one for the team, I do see it as a performance benefit and motivation benefit for the mechanics, for the engineers and everyone in MTC.

“If I want to find every bit of performance, then that is included in something like this. It’s not just purely in the race car, there’s other areas as well and this is definitely one of them. It was another opportunity for me to confirm my commitment to the team and for them to confirm it with me and give the whole team the confidence that I’m here to stay and want to keep trying to achieve things with them.

“I think that’s a great thing for the team and that’s why for my own belief I wanted to do it, because I believe it’s a big motivator for them. Those are the reasons.”

Norris revealed that other teams approached him about his future as well as McLaren.

“I mean there were little chats here and there, but that’s all and nothing went far,” Norris said. “And as soon as something came…