Lando Norris opens up on his mastery of F1's 'silly season'

Lando Norris and McLaren have quickly become two names that are inevitably tied together. But that hasn’t stopped the Brit from having a glimpse elsewhere.

“Of course, there are talks with other people from time to time,” Norris told Auto Motor und Sport. “You always ask yourself the question: What’s best for your career? After all, I want to win and win world championships.”

In February, Norris signed an extension deal with McLaren, keeping him with the team until the end of 2025. There is no question that he has certainly proved his worth, collecting six career podiums and is currently sitting 7th in the drivers’ standings.

Inevitably, this young and promising talent has intrigued the eyes of Christian Horner in the past.

“We’ve spoken with Lando a couple of times over the years, but every time we’ve had a conversation, the next day, he’s signed a contract with McLaren,” the Red Bull boss revealed to F1.com. “He’s on a long-term contract and looks like he’s going to be there for a few more years.”

Norris himself confirmed the talks, but also showed his mastery of the ‘silly season’ rumour mill that has a tendency to cause tension between teams as well as creating an un-holy amount of headlines.

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“There have been talks with Red Bull,” Lando added. “They are a team that has been in the top three for years.

“I was coming to the end of my contract, and it wasn’t like [Red Bull and I] were talking heavily. I literally said it was just that everyone always tries to speak to all teams at some point, so I spoke to them, and I spoke to a few other people. A chat’s a chat. It’s not like, ‘what can we do straight away?’ Just keeping in touch, things like that, it’s as simple as that sometimes.”