Lando Norris signs new McLaren deal - with no get-out clauses!

Norris, McLaren, Abu Dhabi — Photo: © LAT Images

Lando Norris

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Norris signs new McLaren deal - with no get-out clauses!

Briton has committed himself to the team to the end of 2025

Ian Parkes

Wednesday 9 February 2022 11:30 Updated: 12:40

Lando Norris has signed another new deal with McLaren that commits him to the F1 team for the next four years - with no get-out clauses!

Norris only signed a multi-year contract in May last year that was due to expire at the end of 2023 but the 22-year-old Briton has now pledged himself to the Woking-based organisation through to the end of 2025.

The latest agreement, particularly with Norris locked into McLaren for such a lengthy period, is a sign of faith from both parties in one another but also to ward off potential predators.

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By his own admission, Norris has conceded "there were little chats here and there" with other teams even after the signing of last year's deal, with Red Bull known to be strong admirers.

But in re-committing to McLaren, despite only putting pen to paper nine months ago, speaking in a press conference with selected media including GPFans, Norris said: "It did feel a little bit weird that I had already done one last season.

"But that was at the beginning and that was for that season as well, so it wouldn't have brought me anywhere near to '25.

"But this is more for the solidarity of me and the team, for the confidence in us both and just to put the confidence in the both of us for the long term.

"I see that as a benefit - one for myself, to have this longer contract and stay here for a while, and then one for the team. I do see it as a performance benefit and a motivation benefit for the mechanics, for the engineers and for everyone in MTC [McLaren Technology Centre].

"If I want to find every bit of performance, that is included in something like this. It is not just the race car, there are other areas as well. This is definitely one of them.

"It was just another opportunity for me to confirm my commitment to the team, for them to confirm it with me and give the whole team the confidence that I am here to stay and that I want to achieve things with them.

"That is a great thing for the team and that is why, as I say, for my own belief, I wanted to do it because I believe it is a big motivator for them.

"Of course, I didn't do it long ago but those are the reasons."

Norris "an absolute key" to McLaren success

From McLaren's perspective, Seidl added: "As Lando said, the announcement last year was pretty much an extension of an existing contract that would have brought us only two more years with Lando.

"If we look at the overall plan we have in place here, the journey we are in, we know that despite the good steps we have made in previous years, we still have big next steps to make.

"We also know that after all the organisational changes we did here at McLaren, the cultural changes, the plan we have in place on the infrastructure side, we simply need more time to keep growing as a team in order to finish these infrastructure projects and actually benefit from them.

"In order to achieve these ambitious targets, getting back to a position where we are fighting for race wins every race weekend, having Lando with us and having this consistency and continuity in the driver line-up will be an absolute key to achieving these targets.

"Therefore, it was very important for us to lock in Lando with us to the end of 2025."

Seidl has further confirmed there are no escape clauses in the latest deal.

He added: "The beauty of this new agreement that we have in place is that there are no get-outs on both sides.

"It is an important message we wanted to give to the team as well because that shows that we are in this together and that there is a strong belief in the talent that Lando is.

"At the same time, from Lando's side, in believing we can actually get there these next four years."