Sky F1 pundit urges driver to keep 'options open' in hunt for championship

Simon Lazenby, Martin Brundle, Nico Rosberg, Sky F1 — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 News & Gossip

Sky F1 pundit urges driver to keep 'options open' in hunt for championship

Martin Brundle discusses Lando Norris at McLaren

Anna Malyon

Monday 18 December 2023 16:57

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Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle has urged Lando Norris to keep his options open, emphasising that loyalty alone may not secure him a world championship trophy.

Norris joined McLaren for the 2019 season, with his current contract set to expire at the end of the 2025 season.

However, the British driver has yet to secure a race win with McLaren, despite consistently competing at the top of the field in the second half of the 2023 Formula 1 season.

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This led Brundle to suggest that if Norris hopes to secure a world championship trophy, he should consider keeping his options open and not solely base his career choices on loyalty.

“It’s a very small business, relatively speaking and your career whizzes past, you’ve got to keep your options open,” wrote Brundle on Sky Sports.

“Loyalty pays, especially these days in F1 teams, you can build something together but if he sees another year out without a victory, he’ll have to, and in any event, he should be making sure he’s in the best possible place to win a world championship.”

Lando Norris has featured on the podium with Max Verstappen various times in 2023

Martin Brundle believes Lando Norris should keep his options open

McLaren future

Norris and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri collectively secured nine podium finishes during the 2023 season, consistently sharing the stage with three-time world champion Max Verstappen.

Brundle also explored the question of whether McLaren have the potential to genuinely compete against Red Bull in the 2024 season.

Martin Brundle is unsure whether McLaren can truly challenge Red Bull in 2024

“They have got a great driver line up and the team seem to be in the ascendancy,” Brundle added about McLaren.

“I’m not sure the wind tunnel will really be on stream yet for making a big change but they seem to understand their car, every time they brought an update it really moved it forward, which suggests that all their data is matching up with track performance.

“I just think for the sake of all of us, and for F1 and even for Red Bull, to be honest, we need not just McLaren, but Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes and everybody to close the gap.”

Brundle also subtly hinted that he would like to see Norris paired up with a different team-mate on the grid.

“Whether you’re the team boss or whether you’re the drivers, you have to say, ‘I only have eyes for one team one driver pairing,’”

McLaren Lando Norris Formula 1 Martin Brundle