Martin Brundle is certain that Lando Norris will be speaking to other teams about his Formula 1 future amid the struggles his McLaren team is facing.
Not so long ago, McLaren were a team on the rise and looked well place to begin challenging the 'big three'. No doubt encouraged by the team's progress, Norris signed a contract extension at the start of last year to keep him there until the end of 2025.
But his signature on that piece of paper coincided with the start of the team's regression. The 2022 campaign saw McLaren struggle for consistency – Norris was still able to score points with regularity, though Daniel Ricciardo found it very tough and was axed.
Partnered by Oscar Piastri this year, the team's problems have not gone away. They missed development targets on the MCL60 car and so failed to score points in the first two races. A good haul in Australia and a Baku upgrade were causes for optimism but, in Miami last weekend, the McLarens were miles away from points contention.
Their plight was discussed on the latest episode of the Sky Sports F1 podcast. Karun Chandhok posed a question to colleague Martin Brundle, asking: "Do you think he should be on the phone to Ferrari, for example? Carlos [Sainz] isn't having a great run. At what point do you start to get twitchy if you were Lando, do you think?"
And the response was: "You want to be reassured. I mean, get the crystal ball out. I had a lovely interview with Fernando [Alonso] at the weekend – I don't think it made the cut that particular piece – but we all try to see the crystal ball and who's going to have the downforce and power and grip and get their teams together.
"But yeah, Lando will be looking around. He's got to be looking around, but he's nailed on with the contracts and the Contract Recognition Board. So he's got a while there and he's got time as a young man, but McLaren will have to deliver up for him in the next 18 months or he'll be scouting around hard."
Speaking about the constant speculation over his future, Norris admitted last month that he finds the talk flattering. "I feel like it's a compliment that people are talking about it," said the 23-year-old. "It's nice that a lot of people believe that I should have an opportunity to be able to do better than what I'm doing now, or fighting for higher positions that aren't what I'm fighting for now.
"If I look at it from that perspective, it's a compliment that people are saying it. But I think it'll be the same with any driver, if they're having a tough time or if they're not getting the car that people maybe believe that they should be in. And it's what people are going to want to come up with.
"I wouldn't say it's a surprise. I think there's a level of like, last year the difficulties are acceptable, that happens every now and then. With the tough start to this season, then it's a little bit like... I can see why people would think 'Is Lando getting tired of it? Does he want to get out?'. I can see where people are coming from very easily. But I took it as a good thing that people believe I should be in a better car."
