LANDO NORRIS has been dubbed the “Jude Bellingham of Formula 1” who can be the poster boy for Audi’s 2026 entrance into the sport.
The Brit has starred for McLaren since entering the grid in 2019.
Last year he penned a new £50million contract with McLaren running until the end of the 2025 season.
Contemplating Norris’ F1 future, Sky Sports’ Craig Slater said: “Lando Norris, he’s the Jude Bellingham of Formula 1 in transfer terms.
“If he were a footballer, I think he’d be in the 100 million category. He’s young, he’s talented, he’s marketable as well.
“Consider another couple of factors, he is McLaren’s senior driver now, he is in his sixth year at the team. Five years as an F1 driver, but he had been in development terms before that as well. He’s the leader of the team.
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“The other big question in terms of what his transfer value is, does he have a release clause in his contract? Not to my knowledge, to any great degree, which means anyone wanting to sign him up would have to pay top dollar for his services.”
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown addressed his star man’s future earlier this year, telling Sky: “He has zero exit clauses.
“Ultimately, when his contract is next up, if we are not performing and he doesn’t feel he can win races and can compete for the championship, then I think anybody, driver or team member for that matter [would be considering leaving], we are all here to win.
“He has got a contract with us and, most importantly, he is very happy here and he sees the progress that we are making, and he is a team player.”
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Slater, however, reckons that Norris could sign up with Audi ahead of their 2026 arrival, as they aim to make a big splash upon their entry into F1.
He added: “Are McLaren ready to let him go? Absolutely not. Is there a team out there that desperately needs to sign Lando Norris? Well maybe not right now.
“Ferrari seem to be well enough covered, Mercedes look like they’ll continue to work with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell for the years ahead. And Max Verstappen is firmly ensconced at Red Bull.
“Audi could be interesting in a couple of years’ time. When they come into Formula 1, they will want a big name to be the face of their team.
“Might Lando Norris fit the bill in that regard? Might he link up again with this former boss at McLaren Andreas Seidl? But a lot of depends on where McLaren are at in a couple of years.”
Red Bull boss Christian Horner was coy when asked about Norris by Sky Sports this week.
He said: “Lando’s a great driver. He’s a big talent, big personality and of course he’s one of those drivers that you keep an eye on.
“But there’s many drivers that you keep an eye on as well. There’s a generation of drivers out there at the moment that have got a huge amount of talent.
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“Now, being Max’s team-mate is never going to be easy and some drivers may be up for that challenge, some may not be. But, of course, as well as the drivers we have in-house we keep an eye on all the driver market.
“As you can imagine, there’s quite a bit of interest from certain sectors about driving a Red Bull car.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
