After Zak Brown’s Contentious Oscar Piastri Comments, Lando Norris Stamps His Authority on McLaren With Thunderous Statement

With how the current landscape of Formula 1 seems to be developing, Lando Norris finds himself at a difficult crossroads. On the one hand, he is one of the hottest properties around the F1 paddock. But on the other hand, his team, McLaren seem to be far from the outfit that will fight for world championships in the near future. To make matters worse for the 23-year-old, he has tied himself down for the foreseeable future with the Woking-based outfit after penning a long-term deal last year.

With Norris’ fate tied to McLaren’s for now, Zak Brown made the ill-fated choice of uttering some contentious words recently that caught the ire of F1 fans. Brown was recently quoted as saying, “Early indications are we’ve got a future world champion on our hands. We just have to work to give him a faster car now,” while referring to rookie Oscar Piastri. This has obviously floated the notion around that Norris is no longer the priority at McLaren.

Lando Norris stamps his authority on McLaren

With this latest dose of what the rumor mill has been chatting about, Norris must be feeling the pressure of apparent disloyalty. Should the Brit be worried about his place in the team? Well, according to Norris himself, he doesn’t seem to be too fussed about it really.

F1Maximaal.com quoted the 23-year-old as clarifying, “It just seems that the team needs a little more feedback from me than in previous years on the development of the car, but other than that I don’t think there’s really a big difference.” [translated via Google Translate]

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Even though Norris seems to have put his faith in McLaren, he still has chosen wisely to keep all of his options open.

Norris reveals F1 future beyond McLaren

In the past, the British racing ace has been linked with Red Bull. That avenue for the 23-year-old never really materialized as his signed a long-term deal with the Woking-based team shortly afterwards. But his talks with the Bulls and potentially others show an astute foresight for the future by the young British driver.

He told Motorsport.com, “So, it wasn’t solely with Red Bull. It was different talks with different people. ‘What could happen now? What could maybe happen in the future?’ Everyone has those talks,” while addressing the speculation of him being swayed by the Red Bull project.

WATCH THIS STORY: How Lando Norris Had a Chance to Go to Red Bull But Instead Chose McLaren

Do you see Lando Norris ditching McLaren for newer pastures before his current deal with the team expires?