F1 paddock experts mocked Lando Norris after one McLaren announcement but now he’s the one laughing

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Lando Norris is still chasing the 2025 Formula 1 title despite a brutal blow at Zandvoort. An oil leak saw him fall 34 points behind teammate Oscar Piastri.

For Norris, winning the championship would complete a remarkable journey. When he joined McLaren, they were coming off a sixth-place finish in the standings.

While he scored his first podium at the start of his second season, Norris held the record for most podiums without a win until the 2024 Miami GP. He finished in the top three 15 times before finally standing on the top step.

Norris has helped McLaren rebuild from a midfield team to a podium contender, a challenger to Red Bull and now a dominant force. Before the end of this year, he will replace David Coulthard as the team’s longest-serving driver.

Lando Norris’ 2021 McLaren extension was ‘derided’ at the time

Norris signed a multi-year deal when he stepped up from the McLaren academy in 2019. But by the summer of his rookie year, he’d been rewarded with a lucrative extension.

And when that contract approached its expiry, Norris signed a long-term deal to underline his faith in Zak Brown’s vision. At the time, many couldn’t see it.

When the news broke in May 2021, McLaren were still in the midst of a nine-year victory drought (one that Daniel Ricciardo would end later in the season). Norris’ decision was ‘derided within the paddock’, according to ESPN.

He’d already marked himself out as an elite talent, but he surprisingly showed little interest in joining one of the front-runners. Norris felt loyal to Brown and recognised the ‘depth of talent’ at Woking, which reassured him that the team would eventually compete for the title.

When does Lando Norris’ current McLaren contract expire?

In the months before last season, Norris again removed himself from any driver market conversations, even though his win hadn’t arrived. He penned one of the longest deals in F1.

Norris’ current McLaren contract runs until the end of 2028, with an option for 2029. Only Piastri, who signed until 2030 in March, has made a longer commitment.

His faith in McLaren may have appeared questionable in the past, but his contractual decisions now look like a masterstroke. The Woking outfit are almost certain to retain the constructors’ title for the first time since 1991, having built a 324-point lead with 12 wins in 15 Grands Prix.

Norris attracted interest from Red Bull when Christian Horner was in charge, but it seems he was wise to turn them down. The Milton Keynes outfit are on for their worst season since 2015 despite the brilliance of Max Verstappen and there’s more uncertainty around their future prospects than ever.