Martin Brundle suggests 23-year-old F1 driver may be trying to change teams soon

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Martin Brundle has admitted he wouldn’t be surprised if Lando Norris wasn’t looking to leave McLaren.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Brundle was discussing McLaren’s current woes.

It’s been a tough season for the Woking-based team.

After a fifth-place finish last season and a podium for Lando Norris, their fortunes have suffered.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown decided to switch one Australian for another over the winter.

Daniel Ricciardo re-joined Red Bull Racing as a reserve driver after losing his place to rookie Oscar Piastri.

The 22-year-old won Formula 2 in 2021 and was expected to race for Alpine this year before McLaren made their move.

Unfortunately, they’ve failed to improve on last season and appear to be in a lot of trouble.

A disastrous start to the year in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia was followed up by a double-points finish in Australia.

Norris snuck his car into the points in Baku, but Miami saw them propping up the rest of the grid.

Brundle now believes that Norris may look for options outside of McLaren to continue his Formula 1 career.

The team need to get their act together quickly to avoid losing one of the sport’s most exciting young talents.

Brundle worried about Norris future at McLaren

Speaking about the issues facing the team, Brundle said: “I think it’s a lot tougher for Lando [Norris] though [than Oscar Piastri]. He could have won those three races on the bounce a while back.

“He’s seeing George [Russell] and Carlos [Sainz] and contemporaries winning Grand Prix and challenging for podiums.

“All Oscar’s got to do is stay close to or beat Lando, Lando needs to try and beat everybody else on the grid.

“It’s a really challenging time for him. Lando will be looking around.

“He’s got to be looking around, but he’s nailed on with the contract and the contract recognition board.

“So, he’s got a while there. He’s got time, he’s a young man but McLaren will have to deliver up to him in the next 18 months or he’ll scouting around hard.”

Norris has 87 races under his belt for McLaren, but as Brundle said, hasn’t yet recorded his first win.

It would be a huge surprise if he managed to achieve that this season, and he risks falling behind the drivers on the grid that are of a similar age.

The decision to drop Daniel Ricciardo made Norris the number-one driver at McLaren for the first time.

Although he’s expected to lead from the front, that’s virtually impossible due to the car he’s been given.

Something will have to change soon to convince the Brit not to look elsewhere going forward.