Lando Norris Signs New McLaren Contract Through 2030 and Explains Why He Wants the Team to Be His Home ‘Forever’

• Lando Norris has signed a new McLaren contract that keeps him with the team until at least the end of 2030, with an option to extend further
• The 2025 world champion will have spent 12 years at McLaren by the time the deal expires, matching the stint Lewis Hamilton had at Mercedes
• Norris reveals talks over the extension began after he won the title in Abu Dhabi last year, not in response to his recent run of race wins

Lando Norris has committed his future to McLaren, signing a new contract that will keep him with the team until at least the end of 2030, with a multi-year option to commit beyond that date. The 26-year-old joined McLaren in 2017 as a test and development driver before earning a race seat for the 2019 season, and has gone on to claim 13 Grand Prix victories, 18 pole positions, 48 podiums and his maiden World Championship in 2025.

By the time this agreement runs its course, Norris will have spent 12 years with McLaren, matching the stint Lewis Hamilton had at Mercedes, and will be 31 years old. His deal expires at the same time as his rival and friend Max Verstappen’s fresh Red Bull contract, while teammate Oscar Piastri remains contracted through the end of 2028, giving McLaren a settled lineup for at least the next two seasons.

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‘I Want to Make This My Home’

Norris met with F1 correspondent Lawrence Barretto at the McLaren Technology Centre for his first interview after the deal was announced, and could not hide his mood. “I’m very, very excited,” he said. “McLaren’s been my home since the very, very beginning of my career in Formula 1 and I want it to stay that way for as long as possible. We’ve had a great few years and I’m confident we can achieve that many more times. So I want to stay.”

He described the security of a long-term deal as a source of calm rather than pressure. “I know for a good amount more years that I’m comfortable in terms of I’ve got a job and I’m where I want to be, and with the people that I want to be with, and for me that’s calming,” he said. “I can focus on a job I need to do and as a team we can also focus on the job that we want to do.”

Norris made clear that results are not the only thing keeping him at McLaren. “You can always see results as most important and 99% of the time I think they are, but I would say there’s leeway, there’s leverage in terms of just the fact I’m with the people that I want to be with, people that I enjoy spending my career with,” he said. “I don’t want to be bouncing around teams and doing different things. I want be where I’m happy and, even when we weren’t winning, I was also happy to be part of McLaren.”

Asked whether he could ever leave the team he has raced for his entire career, Norris, who holds the record for the most starts for McLaren with 163 Grands Prix, left little doubt. “I want to make this my home,” he said. “I want it to be the place that I am at for a very, very long time and maybe even forever. There are more nice things that just allow me to work better here and live better here, and that’s an amazing thing.”

A Deal Rooted in Loyalty, Not Form

The timing might suggest McLaren moved to lock down its driver on the back of a hot streak, but Norris explained the conversations began well before his current run of results. Those talks had been on the calendar from the moment he won the world title in Abu Dhabi last year, long before this season’s McLaren car had turned a wheel.

That patience was tested early. McLaren failed to take the start in the season opener in Australia, and both cars failed to start the following race in China. An upgrade introduced at the Hungarian Grand Prix hauled the team back into contention and opened the door for Norris to claim his first win of the year, and more parts arrived after the summer break in Zandvoort, where Norris took pole and a second consecutive victory.

He remains 83 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli, but the pairing of Norris and McLaren has momentum on its side. Verstappen sliced through a 104-point deficit to force a title decider in Abu Dhabi last year, and Norris is in a similar position to make his own run at defending the crown he won in 2025.

“It’s a continuation of my last contract,” Norris said of the new deal. “We just want to be able to focus on doing our best job, to extract performance, to get the most out of everyone and focus on the importance that we do not get caught up in the mess of everyone else deciding contracts. I don’t want to distract my team, I don’t want to distract the guys and girls here that are here to give me the best car possible and for me to do the best job for them.”

Praise From Brown and Stella

McLaren CEO Zak Brown said the extension reflected the team’s broader approach to developing talent. “I’m incredibly pleased to be signing a new contract with Lando, extending his commitment with McLaren until at least 2030,” Brown said. “His journey with the team is a fantastic example of our commitment to identifying, developing and supporting world-class talent, and his achievements speak for themselves.”

Brown pointed to McLaren’s recent run of success as evidence of what the partnership has built. “Together with Andrea, Oscar and the wider team, Lando has helped drive McLaren into a new papaya era of success, helping us go from the back of the grid, to double consecutive constructors’ titles in 2024 and 2025 and our first Drivers’ Championship in 17 years,” he said. “We are extremely excited about what lies ahead and remain fully focused on continuing to compete for wins and championships.”

Team Principal Andrea Stella echoed that sentiment, praising both Norris’ driving and his character. “Lando has been an integral part of McLaren’s journey and success over the last nine years, and we are delighted to continue our partnership with him through to at least 2030,” Stella said. “He is an exceptional driver, someone who combines outstanding natural speed with maturity, consistency and a strong commitment to McLaren, but above all, he is a special human being who is valued by everyone in the team.”

“Since joining McLaren as part of our junior programme, he has grown with us and played a central role in bringing the team back to the front of Formula 1,” Stella added. “This extension gives us important continuity and reinforces our confidence in the direction we are taking together. With him and Oscar, we know we can count not only on one of the strongest partnerships but also on one of the most united and close-knit teams in Formula 1.”

‘He Still Gives Me a Kick’

Norris was equally direct about the leadership he credits for keeping him at the team. “Zak is a very good leader, he’s a very good boss,” he said. “As much as we get on and we just, we love racing, we want to win together, we enjoy golf and things, he is still my boss so he still gives me a kick whenever I do something wrong or if I’m not doing something well enough. That’s always what I want, someone that’s honest and who gives me the brutal truth no matter what it is and that something that’s very important to me.”

He offered similar praise for Stella. “At the same time I have that very much so with Andrea, and Andrea is for me, and of course I’m biased and this is the only place I’ve been, but we have had a few different team principals and he is most certainly the most influential over the team,” Norris said. “He is an incredible leader, someone who knows how to bring a group of people together and also knows how to lead individuals such as me in terms of how I can go out and increase my performance every day and be a better person.”

“So, even if I could change anything with where I am now, I wouldn’t and I think that’s the perfect reason,” he said.

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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