Lando Norris is one of the most exciting drivers on the grid at the moment, with the young Brit exceeding expectations year on year, often achieving results beyond what is considered possible in his machinery.
The 22-year-old picked up a podium in Imola this year, despite McLaren being far off the top three teams in 2022 in terms of performance, and he has generally been one of the ‘best of the rest’.
Norris has been tipped as a future world champion, should he be given a car that is capable of winning races, but his McLaren team have admitted that it might be a couple of years before this could be a possibility, if Norris is willing to wait.
The team from Woking will have a huge upgrade to help them in 2024 in the from of a state-of-the-art wind tunnel and simulator, but it remains to be seen if Norris would be happy to wait to reap the rewards of the factory upgrades, of if he would prefer to move to a current title challenger.
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The Bristol born driver recently revealed that he spoke to Red Bull, as well as other teams, before deciding to sign a multi-year contract extension with McLaren, but Dutch racing driver Tom Coronel believes that being paired with Max Verstappen will bring nothing but pain for Norris.
“He’s a big star now, so I wouldn’t risk it if I were him,” suggested Coronel.
“He’s definitely strong and very, very talented, but Verstappen has all teammate next to him so far crushed himself. Then the value is no longer there at once.”
Coronel has claimed that Norris could be a future world champion, but thinks that working alongside a driver as strong as Verstappen would only hinder him in the future.
“As an Englishman who is very fast and very good, you have a lot of value,” he said.
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“Norris is the future of England, and he will not be next to Verstappen in that scenario. I wouldn’t risk it if I were him. That would hurt.”
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has recently given similar advice to current driver Sergio Perez, telling the Mexican that his Dutch teammate has destroyed every teammate he has had, and will continue to do so due to his unbeatable ability.
The 32-year-old Red Bull driver has targeted a 2023 title challenge, but Marko was quick to shoot down Perez’s hopes, deeming it an impossible task.