McLaren Needs To Lock Down 'Hot Property' Driver Sooner Than Later Brown Suggests

Tuesday, 16 January 2024 at 22:00

Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren, suggested his team needs to start focusing on locking down "hot property" driver before other teams poach him.

F1 is very much a development race. This means the team with the fastest car will usually win the Championship. Red Bull, in the last two years, is a good example.

However, Red Bull is also an excellent example that the driver plays an essential role in the success. The whole team works towards building the fastest car possible, but the driver is the person to whom it comes down.

Zak Brown believes McLaren already has the best driver pairing on the grid. It consists of 22-year-old Oscar Piastri and 24-year-old Lando Norris.

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The Papaya team has already secured the younger driver until the end of the 2026 season. Norris, on the other hand, has his contract expiring at the end of next year.

With the amazing performance, he showed in 2023, many of the top teams will most likely be interested in Norris after the 2025 season.

Brown already suggested he expects the Brit to top everyone's potential driver list. He told Sky Sports he believes Norris has become "hot property" in the driver market after the last season.

"Certainly, he's a hot property if you'd like, so we would like to lock him down sooner rather than later. I think he's very much enjoying this time at McLaren."

Norris's ambition is to fight for the race wins and Championships, and in order to keep him, Brown has to have proof that the Papaya team is capable of that.

"The dream is to win races and the World Championships together and I think Lando is all in for a achieving that with us."

On the other hand, when it comes down to money, McLaren is in a very good spot as opposed to some other teams on the grid and can offer the British driver as much as he possibly wants. Do you think the Papaya team will be able to keep the 24-year-old beyond 2025?