Lando Norris says McLaren’s ongoing performance gains convinced him to sign a long-term contract extension, and he believes he could stay with the team for his entire career.

McLaren started 2023 poorly, failing to score in either of the first two races and picking up just 17 points in total in the opening eight rounds of the year. A significant upgrade turned that form around and the team has been consistently fighting for podiums ever since. Norris signed a long-term contract extension at the start of this year – taking him off the driver market for 2026 – because he believes McLaren has delivered on its promises.

“[The future] wasn’t something that I even needed to think of, because I still had a contract for ’25,” Norris told RACER. “So I wasn’t in a rush to do anything. And I still knew a little bit further back, what was in the pipeline and what potential things were coming. Which is when things started to get quite a bit better.

“So I kind of knew that for a little time, the potential was there, and it was the highest potential step we’ve ever had. But it wasn’t something I thought of. It wasn’t like, ‘OK, I’ve got a whole plan prepared for if things go well, and a whole plan for if things go wrong’. It was just more if the year ended and things weren’t great, or even a little bit earlier, then things would have started to be thought of.

“But I’m never one to kind of think too much ahead. I’m very happy with just dealing with what I’ve got to do now and taking one weekend at a time, rather than thinking ‘OK, I want to do this to make sure this is ready and that’s ready’. I’m not too fussed by that and I was in a happy place with how I’ve been doing myself, so it wasn’t something I really had to be worried about.

“I just wasn’t in a rush to do anything. But it’s flipped on its head and it’s gone into being successful and on a good trend – a continuing trend – and that’s what then incentivized me to stay on for even longer.”

Despite not feeling the need to plan ahead, Norris admits the idea of being a McLaren driver for life has crossed his mind as the team starts to add the possibility of future victories to an environment he enjoys being a part of.

“I thought of it,” he said. “I would never say no to it, I think it’s still a cool thing like that. But I would say, the Lewis [Hamilton] move is cool. That’s all I would say. And I respected that. I thought that was a cool move to do. So not saying that’s exactly what I’d like – not say anything else, I’m just saying… I’m not saying I want to go to Ferrari now, I’m just saying there are certain things that are just cool to do.

“I’m in Formula 1 because I love racing, not for any other reason. I started it because I loved it when I was six years old, seven years old, without knowing anything what was going to happen down the line. So it’s still the same reason now – I do it because I love it. There’s just all the bonuses that come along with it now.

“So for me, the priority is always to enjoy it and do what I want to do, and other things are just bonuses along the way, rather than thinking of it any other way. But I think it’s a cool story if I was always ever with McLaren. I love it, I love my team, I love the people I work with, I’m happy, and if that’s how it always goes…

“But there’s that second part of me which is also a competitor, who wants to win. And finding which one has a higher priority at different times, and when is a good time to switch from one to another in terms of ‘Let’s go somewhere, I just want to enjoy it and have fun’, versus ‘I want to win races now, and I want to take this and I want to commit to doing that.'”