McLAREN want to tie up Lando Norris to another long-term contract to fend off interest from Mercedes and Red Bull.
In the second half of last season, Norris was the second-highest points scorer behind champion Max Verstappen.
The Brit, 24, is under contract until the end of 2025 but that has not put off McLaren’s rivals from checking on the highly-rated racer’s availability.
Norris is currently on a deal worth around £13m per year and a new extension could see him earn £20m per year from 2026 onwards.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has signed key design staff, such as David Sanchez and Rob Marshall from Ferrari and Red Bull respectively, as the team make progress off track.
Speaking at the launch of the team’s livery for 2024, Brown says he now wants to turn his attention to signing up his drivers to their long term project to win championships again.
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He said: “My primary role is to get the right people in place, give them the right resources, and the support.
“Of course when you’re building a team that has desires to get back to winning the world championship, you need the management, you need the technology, the infrastructure, and of course you need the two grand prix drivers.
“I think we have all of those in place. We have Lando under contract for another couple of years. Of course, we’re in dialogue with him on a continuous basis as he’s starting to think through as we are, we’re very focused now here, obviously on the short term.
“But also 2026 isn’t far away, and we recognise that being able to retain Lando and Oscar [Piastri] for the foreseeable future is definitely a key element and something that is a high priority for us.”
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Norris is yet to win his first race but has come agonisingly close. He has taken 13 podiums and finished the championship in sixth place last season.
And Brown says it is not down to his driver’s failure to see out the result but because the team have let him down, something he wants to rectify in 2024.
He added: “The first victory is always somehow the most important, because when you have it, some confidence comes with it, so other things come slightly easier.
“At the moment, I would say the main reason why this has not been possible is because we haven’t put Lando in condition to consistently compete for the victory.
“So when Lando wins his first race, it will be a beautiful moment. He’s ready for that. It’s more about us being ready in delivering the car that allows him to take the opportunities.
“At the moment, like actually we’ve been leading races but we couldn’t consolidate the result up to the chequered flag, so we look forward to that win, and hopefully we’ll have the opportunity in 2024.”
While Brown is optimistic about his team’s chances coming into the new season he has raised concerns about the partnership between Red Bull and their sister team, AlphaTauri.
And the McLaren chief thinks it could disrupt the playing field if the two teams are allowed to operate too closely and has subsequently voiced his fears.
He said: “I am concerned over the AlphaTauri/Red Bull alliance.
“AlphaTauri is, from what I understand, moving to the UK, which I think will benefit both teams.
“So this A/B team and co-ownership, which is a whole other level of A/B team, is a big concern to us and the health and fairness of the sport.
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“The A/B team co-ownership is a serious issue for the fairness of the sport for the fans.
“That’s why it’s pretty much not allowed in any other form of major sport, and I’d like to see us as an industry focus on that before it gets to a level of being where F1 once was, which was very out of balance because people are playing by the rules but a different set of rules.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
