Andreas Seidl says he has no concerns about McLaren losing Lando Norris during the four remaining years of his contract as there are no release clauses on either side.
Norris has committed to McLaren to the end of the 2025 season by way of an extension to his deal, and if he sees it through he will have completed seven years in one of their race seats.
Of course, considering the way the Briton has progressed in F1, particularly during the 2021 campaign, you sense McLaren will need to become bona fide World Championship contenders if Norris is to remain content there.
The 22-year-old would be an obvious candidate for a place at Mercedes when Lewis Hamilton retires, with Norris admitting there had been “little chats” with rival teams before he pledged his future to McLaren.
But Seidl, the McLaren team principal, insists nothing has been written into the paperwork allowing the contract to be ripped up if Norris receives a better offer – and the same applies from the opposite perspective also.
“The beauty of this new agreement we have in place is there’s no get-outs on both sides, which is simply the important message we wanted to give to the team as well because that shows we are in this together and that there’s a strong belief from both sides,” said Seidl, quoted by Crash.net.
“From our side, in the talent Lando is and at the same time from Lando’s side, in believing we can actually get there in these next few years.”
Moving #FearlesslyForward together with @LandoNorris. ??
A message from the man himself for the Papaya family. pic.twitter.com/OLXVUXsJq6
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) February 9, 2022
Seidl said he and Zak Brown, the McLaren Racing CEO, have been in “permanent dialogue” with Norris about how they want their association to evolve and the targets they share.
“The beauty of this sport is we spend so much time together, so there’s a permanent dialogue ongoing between us and Lando,” added the German.
“We obviously have a lot of conversations about where we are as a team, about the plans we have in place, and during one of these discussions it was also clear there was an interest from our side but also from Lando’s in order to commit for the long term.
“They are conversations that are obviously consistently happening and making steps. In the end, we came to this common view that putting a new four-year contract in place is the deal to make in order to have the best shot in order to achieve these common goals.”
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