2016 Formula 1 World Champion Nico Rosberg believes Lando Norris could leave McLaren for Red Bull at the end of this season, despite being under contract until the end of 2025.
Norris is regarded as one of the hottest talents in the sport currently and is someone whom Red Bull clearly admire.
Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko has only recently admitted that he can “imagine” Norris racing for the Austrians, something the British driver is actually open to.
Norris and Max Verstappen have both shared their interest at becoming team-mates one day, something the reigning World Champion discussed last weekend at the Italian Grand Prix.
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“We talk about it. But he’s contracted to McLaren for a long time. We’ll see what happens in the future,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.
Norris supposedly doesn’t have an exit clause in his McLaren deal, meaning it’s theoretically impossible for Red Bull to snatch the 23-year-old before 2026.
Despite this, Rosberg asked McLaren CEO Zak Brown where the Brit is heading next season, after hearing that there is a “switch coming”.
“Where’s he [Norris] going? Next year already, I hear there’s a switch coming,” Rosberg asked Brown on Sky Sports F1.
Brown quashed any suggestion that Norris is leaving the Woking-based team at the end of the season and has done whether asked about the young driver’s future.
The McLaren CEO is adamant that Norris will race for the British team until at least his contract expires at the end of 2025 but is hopeful that the driver will even consider signing a new deal with the side, should they offer a competitive package for the new power unit regulations in 2026.
“He loves McLaren, it’s been his family, so there’s no doubt in my mind is his number one choice is to win a world championship with McLaren,” Brown told ESPN last month.
“I think the best thing we do to retain him is to demonstrate to him we’re a team capable of doing that. It’s not a case of wooing him or not wooing him, it’s about giving him a car where he can look himself in the mirror and say ‘I think I can win a world championship with this team’.
“We’ve got our team in place. It’s stable. We have additional talent coming to be additive to what we currently have. We have all the financial resources we need. It’s just going to take a little bit of time so as long as we can show this progress…
“’26 is going to be a huge reset for this sport and there’s not going to be any excuses for us. We have everything we need from resources, people, two great drivers, all the technology, infrastructure.
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“As long as [Norris] continues to see our pace and development then I think he’ll have all the confidence in the world that this team’s won 20 world championships and have everything they need, look at the momentum.
“You look down the grid, there’s as many unknowns about ’26. Red Bull with a new engine, how’s that going to be?
“They’ve never done that before. There’s all sorts of variables going on there and I think our story is as good as anyone’s.”
Red Bull, of course, are set to power themselves when the new engine regulations are introduced, whilst it’s still unknown who McLaren will be powered by, as their current deal with Mercedes expires in 2025.