The leading teams in F1 have been warned that a move for Lando Norris won't be easy to negotiate after the British star signed a lucrative new deal at McLaren last year.
Norris, 23, became a junior driver with the British team in 2017 before making his F1 debut two years later, and has long been tipped to challenge for the world title. However, he's yet to take the chequered flag after 82 race starts, and last season proved a deflating one for him and the team amid the start of F1's new era.
Hopes were high after Norris put pen to paper on a contract extension until the end of 2025, citing his belief he could launch a title challenge. He could only finish seventh in the standings though, having notched just one podium finish in Emilia Romagna.
It's led to speculation over his long-term future, with the star being linked to both Red Bull and Mercedes. With Lewis Hamilton yet to confirm he is staying with the Silver Arrows beyond this season, and with Max Verstappen currently at odds with partner Sergio Perez, those rumours have been further enhanced of late.
But Sky Sports F1 reporter Ted Kravitz isn't convinced that a transfer would be straightforward: "There have been tentative discussions (with Red Bull), but you also reflect that for a while in the past Zak Brown was advising Lando’s management team and they were very close to each other, so that might be slightly harder to get out of," he wrote, in a Q and A session with fans.
However, despite his doubts, Kravitz doesn't believe the length of his current deal will be defining either: "We’ve learnt by now that drivers’ contracts are not worth the paper they’re written on, and absolutely he could move anywhere at any time if the price is right," he added.
"If a top team or a team with a more competitive car comes in for him, as they say in football, and taps him up, then anything’s possible. There’s no contract that can’t be got out of and if Lando loses the faith, then it’s absolutely possible he could move. But where would be the team that would come in for him?"
Norris and Verstappen are close friends, and indeed, the reigning world champion has already voiced his fear that he could challenge his supremacy in 2023. He did though, stress that he would need the sufficient car to do it.
At the end of last year, Norris lost teammate Daniel Ricciardo, after he had underwhelmed two years into his much publicised move. He has since joined Red Bull and will serve as a back-up driver to the Dutchman and Perez.
