Lorris Norris reveals other F1 teams tried to sign him before new McLaren deal

Lando Norris

Lorris Norris reveals other F1 teams tried to sign him before new McLaren deal

Well, he IS the world champion!

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Saturday 29 August 2026 21:45

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Lando Norris has revealed that he was contacted by other teams looking to steal him from McLaren before he signed his huge new contract extension.

The reigning world champion's new deal, announced on Saturday, ties him to the team through the end of the 2030 season, extending his time with the papaya team to over a decade.

Norris told BBC Sport after signing the deal that he had other teams sniffing around him with some interest – although he didn't name them – but called renewing his deal 'one of the easiest decisions' of his career.

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The Brit has won the last two races as his team begin to fight back in the development race against Ferrari and Mercedes, giving him an outside chance of defending his title despite a start to the season where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

Norris: I don't want to spend time with other people

The team's infamous double-DNS at just the second race of the season set the tone for a chaotic opening few months, which also saw he and Oscar Piastri's Canadian Grand Prix ruined when the team started them on intermediate tyres on an effectively dry track.

He later retired from that race with a gearbox problem, before a battery issue took him out of the next race in Monaco.

However, the 26-year-old insisted this week that his new deal was never in doubt, saying: "There was some interest from elsewhere, but I don't want to go anywhere. I don't want to be with another team. I don't want to spend time with other people.

"That's why it really was probably one of the easiest decisions I've made since being in Formula 1."

Tough start to 2026 convinced Norris of McLaren future

He even described the team's tough start to the current season as a factor which made him want to stick around even more, saying "That's exactly the situation that doesn't take me away from where I am or doesn't influence anything else.

"I still have had a lot of fun and enjoy working and trying to fight through the tougher moments with the people that I do it with now. I don't want to fight through moments with anyone else.

"This beginning of the year is the perfect example of what doesn't make me turn my head the other way or anything.

"In fact, it's more the opposite. It makes me want to stick with the people that I am with because I believe we can fight back through most circumstances and all circumstances. And I enjoy the fight in some ways just as much as I enjoy the experience of being on top."

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F1 McLaren Lando Norris