Despite rumours suggesting that Lando Norris would go to Red Bull, Zak Brown maintains he is convinced his McLaren squad will be able to keep hold of the British driver.
Norris signed a new agreement at the beginning of this year, extending his contract through 2025.
By then, the ambitious young driver hopes to have had the opportunity to regularly contend for race victories, setting the season 2024 as the time when McLaren will be able to be that competitive.
McLaren Racing CEO Brown is confident that his team is on track to prevent it from being a problem.
The American responded, “No, because I’m certain we’re going to provide him a winning car,” when asked whether he was concerned about losing Norris.
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“We have a long-term contract with him. I think he feels very comfortable within the team. Other than obviously the pressure we put on ourselves, because we don’t want to just give him a winning car, we want to give us a winning car. So, I think we’ve got a runway to get there.”
Recent weeks have seen calls for Red Bull to sign the 23-year-old, as the constructors’ champions’ 32-year-old driver Sergio Perez has struggled to make an impression with Max Verstappen.
Norris has stated that he values McLaren’s honesty with regard to their venture and that he does not want to be surrounded by his employers’ positive affirmations and empty promises.
Brown has acknowledged that it might take until 2024 for McLaren to catch up to the front-runners like Red Bull and Ferrari, so if Norris decides to remain loyal to the team, he might have to hold off fighting for race wins on a regular basis.