Norris Might Not Have Made Same Decision To Stay With McLaren Year Earlier

Sunday, 28 January 2024 at 05:00

Lando Norris decided to sign a new contract with McLaren as he believed in the team's ability to compete for the championship. However, everything might have been different a year earlier.

Yesterday, Lando Norris and McLaren announced a new contract. Although the 24-year-old probably received many lucrative offers, he chose to stay with his current team.

The thing is, Norris signed this contract two years earlier with no idea about how competitive his team would realistically be when his current contract expires, not to mention the new 2026 regulations.

This shows that the Briton has incredible trust in not only his team's leaders (Zak Brown and Andrea Stella) but also everybody else around.

"With how things went and what I believe we have coming, and the confidence that I have in the team over the next two years, and going into a refresh in ’26 when so many things change, really there is not many other things that you can be guaranteed on or assured with any team."

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The logic behind Norris's decision was to look at the team's potential, and McLaren has a lot going for them at this moment. The team has great personnel, cutting-edge equipment, and more than enough resources.

"So at that same time, it comes back to where will I be happiest? And now, where am I most confident where I can achieve a World Championship?"

On the other hand, McLaren had enough resources for the last couple of seasons and the team wasn't able to achieve much. The 24-year-old admitted his decision whether or not to stay with the Papaya team might have been different a year ago.

"If you had asked me at the beginning of last year, maybe it wouldn’t have been McLaren. But now I think I am more confident than ever in saying it will be McLaren."

As we know, the British team made an incredible comeback last year and proved they have what it takes to fight with the top teams in the grid.

Stella suggested ahead of the upcoming season that his two new key hires from Ferrari and Red Bull confirmed what they already thought in terms of development direction.

The clues suggest that McLaren is on the right path to fight for the Championship title in upcoming seasons. Do you think Norris made the right decision?