Red Bull Racing

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.
Lando Norris could see his salary rise by £7m per yearCredit: Getty
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has explained how he wants to ensure Norris remains with his teamCredit: Getty
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.”
Norris made the podium an impressive 13 times last yearCredit: Getty More

RED BULL director Helmut Marko has revealed the key aspect in which Max Verstappen can still improve.The Dutchman dominated Formula 1 in 2023, winning 19 of the 22 races.
Max Verstappen has dominated Formula 1 in recent yearsCredit: PA
Verstappen won his third world title on the bounce and is expected to make it four next time out.
But Marko, 80, believes he still has room to improve.
Speaking to Sky Germany, Marko said: “Here and there he gets a little impatient when the car is not exactly to his liking.
“He becomes even faster and takes more care of the material. That gives him an advantage again. I would never have thought it possible, so I don’t see any limits to the top.”
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Marko believes that the best is yet to come for F1’s most dominant driver, in daunting news for other competitors.
He added: “It’s his absolute will to win, he can go to the limit in every situation. He does that with aplomb and ease.
“He has made a very decisive step in tyre management. He can drive at the limit without pushing the tyres.
“He knows how far he can go. We haven’t seen the peak yet.”
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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella recently snubbed seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton when naming his three best drivers on the grid.
Speaking to DAZN, Stella said: “Lando [Norris] is already one of the best drivers on the grid.
“He is very fast, very good in the race, with tire management… When I think about Lando, I think that if the team and I gave him a good car, he would be able to fight for the championship.
“When we talk about being the most complete, I definitely think of Fernando Alonso. He basically has no weaknesses.
“I think this makes him unique. He is not the best in many things, but he is very strong in all of them.
“Lando, I think his development as a driver will make him so complete. He reminds me a little of Fernando.
“My top 3 drivers with the same cars would be Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso.”
Lewis Hamilton was snubbed by McLaren tam principal Andrea StellaCredit: Alamy More

MAX VERSTAPPEN will have to pay more than £1MILLION to compete in F1 next season.The Dutch star, 26, claimed his third successive drivers’ championship in 2023 with a record 16 wins and 575 points.
Max Verstappen will have to pay more than £1million to take part in the 2024 seasonCredit: Rex
Lewis Hamilton will only have to pay £431,000 to compete next yearCredit: Alamy
But the price of his dominant year means he will have to shell out a substantial amount to compete in 2024.
F1 racing licences for the following season are always calculated by the previous term’s points totals.
The base cost for the drivers is nearly £9,000, before each point accumulated incurs an additional £1800.
This means Verstappen’s 575-point total racks up a payment of more than £1m.
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The overall total for the Dutch driver stands at £1,046,911.
However, it is likely Red Bull will cover the cost of the racing licence for their star man.
Meanwhile, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton will only have to pay £431,349 to compete in 2024 – less than half the fee of rival Verstappen.
He picked up just 234 points and failed to win a race for a second consecutive season.
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Williams driver Logan Sargeant, who claimed just one point in the 2023 season, will pay the least amount after accumulating a total of just £10,800.
Verstappen has complained in the past about having to pay the hefty fees.
He said: “I don’t think it’s right that we have to pay so much.
“It doesn’t happen in other sports either. And there are more and more races.”
There will be a record 24 races next season, up from 22 in 2023. More

FORMULA ONE legend Jacques Villeneuve revealed secret backstage talks between rivals “always happen” in the paddock.This comes after sensational rumours suggesting Mercedes superstar Sir Lewis Hamilton sent someone to approach Red Bull team principal Christian Horner regarding a shock swap.
Jacques Villeneuve revealed backstage talks between rivals ‘always happen’Credit: Splash
Shock reports claim a member of Sir Lewis Hamilton’s camp approached Red BullCredit: Getty
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner claimed Hamilton’s rep discussed a possible swapCredit: Alamy
Villeneuve wasn’t stunned by those reports as he remembers similar incidents taking place during his glory years on a regular basis.
However, the Williams great insists when the news come out a driver always has to make sure they negate those rumours.
Villeneuve told Planet F1: “It gets a lot of print!
“As a driver, you’re not allowed to talk to other teams while you’re under contract and all that. But talks always happen.
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“Obviously, you cross people in the paddock or, sometimes, you’ll use someone who doesn’t work for you, but will still do the talk so you’re protected.
“But, if the noise comes out, you have to negate it. Then who’s there to check?”
In the lead-up to the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Horner revealed a member of Hamilton’s camp had approached him to talk about a possible switch to his team.
A Red Bull spokesperson then revealed that conversation had been with Sir Lewis’ father Anthony.
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But both the British superstar and Mercedes’ team principal Toto Wolff quickly shut down those claims.
Hamilton has vehemently denied those rumours and even claimed Horner was “just stirring things”.
The seven-time F1 world champion added he had no knowledge regarding an approach from his camp. More

LEWIS HAMILTON has admitted he would love to drive Red Bull’s Formula One car.Mercedes have had a challenging couple of years since the new era of F1 car designs were introduced into the sporting regulations.
Lewis Hamilton has admitted he would ‘love’ to drive the Red Bull F1 carCredit: Alamy
Max Verstappen enjoyed unprecedented success behind the wheel this seasonCredit: Getty
The Brackley-based team have won just won race in the last two seasons, with that sole win coming with George Russell in Brazil 2022.
And that has left seven-time world champion Hamilton without a race win for two years, having previously won a race in every season he had featured in beforehand.
Hamilton showed his quality by finishing the best of the rest in the 2023 drivers championship, but was still unable to snatch a race win thanks to the unprecedented dominance of Red Bull.
Indeed, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was the only driver not in a Red Bull to take a chequered flag this season as Max Verstappen hoovered up a record-breaking 19 race wins and Sergio Perez landed two.
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Red Bull brainiac designer Adrian Newey has already claimed their car evolution plan next year will be “so difficult for anyone to catch up”, so Hamilton’s challenge may get even harder.
NOT that the 38-year-old is backing down from the challenge, but he believes every driver on the grid would love driving the “most dominant car of all-time”.
As quoted by F1i.com, he said: “Every driver here looks at the Red Bull car and would love to drive that car, and I am not saying that I wouldn’t love to drive that car and feel how good it is, every driver would feel that.”
However, he also backed Mercedes to recreate the winning formula which allowed Hamilton to land six of his seven world titles.
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He said: “We’ve had two difficult years, and if we work towards beating that car, it is going to be a way better feeling than stepping into the best car.
“That wouldn’t do much for me, in the sense of stepping into the car that is the most dominant of all-time.
“Working with my team to build and be able to beat them, that would be better for my legacy.”
Despite this, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has backed Hamilton to be fighting for the title in 2024, so long as the team deliver a car capable keeping up with Red Bull.
When asked by Sky Sports as to whether they can bridge that gap next season, Wolff said: “New season starts with a completely new car and that gives opportunities but also risks.
“I think we’ve got to be realistic.”
He added: “If we are able to give him the car, then he will be fighting for a world championship.
“I have no doubt. It’s clear that when you have a Formula 1 car like we have now, you are never at ease with it.”
Verstappen broke a number of records with Red Bull in 2023, including the sport’s longest race-winning streak with ten and becoming the first driver to ever lead 1000 laps in a season.
Complete F1 2023 race calendar – details on every Grand Prix this year More