McLaren issue response to Norris/Red Bull F1 links

McLaren CEO Zak Brown is confident that his team can keep hold of Lando Norris despite continued links to Red Bull.

Norris joined Formula 1 with the Woking-based squad in 2019 and currently has a contract in place with McLaren until the end of the 2025 campaign.

However, the Briton has continued to be linked with a future drive at Red Bull, with the energy drink-backed outfit's Team Principal Christian Horner stating at the end of 2022 that it had talked to Norris “a couple of times" over a drive.

Norris partnered rookie Oscar Piastri at McLaren last year with the duo aiding the team to fourth in the Constructors' Championship, despite a challenging start.

Piastri's efforts saw his contract extended until the end of the 2026 season and Brown has now set his sights on securing Norris' future.

“I think we’ve got the best driver line-up in Formula 1,” Brown told Sky Sports. “We do have a little bit more runway with both but certainly, he’s hot property, so we’d like to lock him down sooner rather than later.

“I think he’s very much enjoying his time at McLaren. The dream is to win races and World Championship together. I think Lando is all in for achieving that with us.

“He’s a great asset to the racing team so there’s no number that we’d be interested in trading him for.”

Red Bull enjoyed a highly dominant season last year, winning all but one race staged during the campaign.

Norris is known to share a strong friendship with Red Bull's Max Verstappen and question marks have been raised over the second seat beyond the 2024 season following Sergio Perez's run of lacklustre performances last year.

Despite Red Bull's strong position in the pecking order, Brown doesn't believe that it would be enough to persuade Norris to leave for the World Champions.

“Anytime you have a race car that won 21 races last year it’s pretty hard to say that it wouldn’t be a pretty exciting race car to drive,” he said.

“But it’s more than just the car, it’s trajectory, it’s environment, it’s family. Lando’s culture and who he is fit in really well inside McLaren.

“I think this is the best home for him of all the other nine teams, not just Red Bull.”

Brown added that the monetary side of Norris' contract will not be a sticking point for the team.

“The resources we have now are exactly where we need to be,” he said. “We’re a profitable racing team, which is great.

“We run at the cap and resources will not hold us back from achieving anything that we need to include, drivers included.”