Zak Brown Is Assured Lando Norris Will Honor His $94,000,000 Contract Despite Red Bull’s Piqued Interest as Recent Progress Fulfils Old Promise

Sabyasachi Biswas | 24/07/2023
Zak Brown Is Assured Lando Norris Will Honor His $94,000,000 Contract Despite Red Bull's Piqued Interest as Recent Progress Fulfils Old Promise

Apart from Max Verstappen, Lando Norris has been the most in-form driver in F1 over the last few weeks. The McLaren star picked up back-to-back P2 positions at Silverstone and then at the Hungaroring. McLaren has been successful as of late in providing him with a competitive car and Zak Brown believes Norris will respect his $94,000,000 contract with the team despite looming interests from Red Bull.

McLaren was once a force to reckon with in F1 but has fallen from grace over the last few years. However, team boss Brown asked Norris to stay patient till 2024, as they are sure they can fight for world championships once again. Their recent on-track performance surge is proof that they are headed in the right direction.

At the same time, certain reports suggest that Red Bull has their eyes on Norris. This is because they want to make a super team with the young Brit and Verstappen from 2025 onwards. For this they have been trying to lure Norris away, but Brown insists that won’t happen.

Brown is confident about keeping Lando Norris at McLaren

Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren is confident that they will be able to keep Norris at Woking despite looming interests from competitors. He oozed confidence while speaking about this in an interview with Sky Sports.

When asked how he can keep the 23-year-old driver in the team, Brown said, “The way you keep him is [to] give him a good racing car. He loves the environment. He loves the team and has been on this journey. Obviously, we were all a bit frustrated at the start of the year, so as long as we keep doing that, he will stick around.”

Admittedly, the young Briton was also impressed by the progress made by his team. At the beginning of the season, Norris and McLaren were struggling to get into the points. Now that has changed, and they are arguably the second fastest team on the grid.

Norris left impressed by McLaren’s advancements

Lando Norris praised his team and the hard work the engineers have done back at the factory on multiple occasions. From the tumultuous start to the 2023 F1 season where they were backmarkers on multiple races, the MCL60s are arguably the second-fastest team on the grid right now.

Speaking to Nico Rosberg after the conclusion of the Hungarian GP, the 23-year-old also admitted that the papayas might make a move towards winning races as well. Given the way they are moving ahead and Red Bull having a cost cap penalty, that might turn out to be true by the later stages of this season.

All in all, Norris is world class driver who can compete with the likes of Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, or George Russell if he gets a good car. He proved it on more than one occasion and for this, Zak Brown will do anything to keep him at Woking.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
Lando Norris Max Verstappen Zak Brown

About the author

Avatar photo

Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

Don’t miss these