Norris Talks his Future as McLaren Secure Piastri
Mar.12 - Just as Lando Norris flirts with his own future, teammate Oscar Piastri has been cemented at McLaren for several more years.
In a pre-season interview with NBC, 2024 drivers' title runner-up and arguable 2025 championship favourite Norris was asked about his long-term future on the grid.
"I can't answer that one," he smiled. "I know exactly which team I would love to go to - it's the team that everyone wants to be part of at some point in their career. But I'm very happy with McLaren."
Indeed, just over a year ago, Norris agreed a multi-year extension to his existing contract, which was already due to run at least until the end of 2025.
However, it's clear that he might one day accept a move from orange to red - just like Lewis Hamilton.
"It's a cool story for him to go to Ferrari," Norris said when asked about his British countryman's move from UK-based Mercedes to Maranello.
"A lot of people said maybe it's not the right thing to do and so forth. But I would probably do the same if I was in his position."
For his teammate Piastri, however, the Mark Webber-managed Australian is clearly not yet dreaming of Ferrari, having agreed his own contract extension on the eve of his home event in Melbourne.
23-year-old Piastri was already contracted to the Woking-based team through the end of 2026, meaning his new deal probably now runs longer than Norris' does.
In the official statement, McLaren mentioned that Piastri will now be at the team for "many years to come".
However, Piastri was outpaced by Norris in 2024, and Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko thinks the Australian is set to trail for another season. "It is clear that he (Norris) looked a lot better than Piastri in Bahrain," he said after pre-season testing.
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We'll see whether Lando moves to Ferrari someday & regarding Oscar's extension, only the timing was surprising.
Furthermore, since McLaren was already among the majority of teams that are unlikely to feature driver changes in the foreseeable future unless something more drastic happens, they're such a team even more so following Oscar's extension announcement.
Most teams are pretty set with their drivers for the medium to long term, so only something relatively drastic could realistically cause changes regardless of contractual situations.
In the official statement, McLaren mentioned that Piastri will now be at the team for "many years to come".
But only if they both perform to how the other expects them to (In the Contracts)
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