F1 News Today: Mercedes chief revels in Horner absence as Norris reveals rivals' poaching effort

Russell and Norris after race at Zandvoort — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Today

F1 News Today: Mercedes chief revels in Horner absence as Norris reveals rivals' poaching effort

All the day's biggest F1 news!

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Sunday 30 August 2026 07:45 Updated: 08:47

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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.

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Toto Wolff is enjoying life after Christian Horner - 'No bulls*** and lies'

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has spoken about his Red Bull counterpart Laurent Mekies in glowing terms, in sharp contrast to his adversarial relationship with the Frenchman's predecessor.

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Wolff and former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had a long and fractious rivalry which spanned more than a decade, with some of their more famous moments being caught on Netflix cameras for their Drive to Survive docuseries.

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Fernando Alonso paid by TWO teams for one season after launching Ferrari tirade

One of the biggest stories of the 2010s was Fernando Alonso's messy exit from Ferrari and the circumstances surrounding it.

After five seasons and two close shots at winning the F1 title, Alonso left Ferrari with still two years to run on his Ferrari deal at the end of 2014, furious with the team's lack of competitiveness.

His final season with the team was one of Ferrari's worst. They went without a race win for the first time since 1993, with the two-time world champion having to settle for two podiums. To illustrate how bad the Ferrari F14 T was, team-mate and 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen failed to record a single top three finish.

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Carlos Sainz reveals first 'warning sign' at Williams ahead of 2026 struggles

Carlos Sainz has opened up on Williams' struggles in the 2026 season, revealing the moment that he realised things were worse than he thought.

The British team infamously missed pre-season shakedown testing in Barcelona because their cars weren't ready, but Sainz has revealed that he wasn't overly concerned at the time.

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McLaren and Red Bull have drawn F1 battle lines with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen contracts

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris have a chance to do something very unusual in F1 history after signing their new contracts this month.

Other sports have their own legendary one-team men – Giggs, Maldini, Kobe, Jeter, Ernie Banks, Elway, Marino, so on, and so forth – but F1 truly lacks an equivalent star in anything like the modern era. Jim Clark and Lotus maybe, but that's going back more than half a century.

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F1 Red Bull Mercedes McLaren Lando Norris Christian Horner