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Lando Norris

Norris urged to put 'confidence' in McLaren amid future talks

The British driver has been linked to a switch to Red Bull, but McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella is confident the team can persuade him to stay.

Norris Japan
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McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella says he wants the team to secure the "confidence" of Lando Norris amid talks surrounding his future at the Formula 1 team.

Norris has established himself as one of the best prospects on the grid, after overtaking Sergio Perez in the last eight races as becoming the second highest points scorer behind Max Verstappen.

The Briton has been tipped with a potential move to Red Bull for the future, after Team Principal Christian Horner said he is "keeping an eye" on his performance.

His current team McLaren has recently secured the future of Oscar Piastri on a multi-year contract, while Norris is contracted until the end of the 2025 season.

Stella: We're trying to prove as much as possible to Norris

Norris has enjoyed a turn-around in fortunes at McLaren since their worst start to a season, which has seen him secure four podiums - two of which in the last two races.

Stella hopes this will be enough to persuade him amid their future talks he told media, including RacingNews365: "Certainly having conversations with Lando, they are good conversations. We are happy with how these conversations are going.

"In terms of getting the vote of confidence, we went back to the facts. Certainly we expressed our love, if you want, in terms of the human element.

"As a team you want mates to be with you on the journey, especially when the journey is so tough. But you also need to talk about facts, like what's the foundation for the future that can give us your vote of confidence?

"With Lando we are doing exactly the same, trying to prove as much as possible on track and trying to create a sense of 'This is going to continue over the coming years'."

Stella added that he felt that it would be tough to persuade a driver if their results on track are not matching what is behind said behind the scenes about their project.

"It would be a discomfort myself having a conversation with a driver where I'm trying to persuade him, playing cards that I don't have in my hands," he explained.

"I don't want to find myself in a situation where a driver said 'Hey, you said this would have happened and it's not happening' I don't want to be in this position.

"So my conversation, Zak's conversation, they are genuine assessments of facts to the best of our knowledge. We don't need to buy people in, we want people to give us the vote of confidence to stay with us genuinely, truly believing in the journey together with McLaren."

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