Zak Brown, McLaren CEO, is not worried about losing Lando Norris, claiming the Briton knows what to expect and has bought into the journey he’s on with the team.
Lando Norris, made his Formula 1 debut in 2019 with McLaren, and has committed a long-term with them until the end of the 2025 season, but he has also claimed that his team did not achieve the targets they set out to realize in 2022.
That is, not to mention that team principal Andreas Seidl has jumped ship to Sauber, replaced from within by Andrea Stella; however, Zak Brown is not worried about losing his young charger, and told Motorsport.com why, saying: “Because I’m convinced we’re going to give him a winning car. We have a long-term contract with him. I think he feels very comfortable within the team.
“Other than obviously the pressure we put on ourselves, because we don’t want to just give him a winning car, we want to give us a winning car. So, I think we’ve got a runway to get there.
“He knows the journey we’re on. He has bought into the journey that we’re on, and I think it’d be early to be worried about it,” the American insisted.
Brown hailed Norris’ development ever since he set foot on the F1 stage, he commented: “Every step along the way, he gave you a reason to believe the next step he was going to be great.
Norris mega in everything
“But we’ve seen drivers that have been great along the way and then, when they get to the top, you don’t know if it was them or the situation: Jan Magnussen right? He was mega in everything and then didn’t quite work in F1. Jos Verstappen was often mega in everything, it didn’t quite work in F1,” he explained.
“Lando was mega in everything. And it has worked in F1. In fact, what I think I’m happiest to see is not just pure pace, but how few mistakes he makes, and how strong his racecraft is.
“Looking at Lando, year one. He had the pace, but probably didn’t have his elbows out enough. And now he’s fair, but he’s a tough character when you are racing,” a satisfied Brown added,
Norris has been Brown’s protégé from the start, the pair sharing a great relationship from the start, but in 2023, the McLaren Chief has signed up another young gun in the form of Oscar Piastri to replace the underperforming Daniel Ricciardo.
“I think Lando is one of the fastest drivers on the grid and I expect Oscar to be close,” he said when asked how expected the pair will perform relatively in 2023.
“I expect Oscar to have some opportunities to beat him and vice versa. And that’s obviously what you want, right? It’s two drivers right next to each other and reversing the order,” Brown maintained.