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An exciting turn of events has just begun in the life of Lando Norris. In all fairness, the 23-year-old British racing ace was being restrained from showing his true potential with a midfield McLaren car. That’s been the case since 2019 when he made his F1 debut. That being said, as 2023 has progressed, so has Red Bull’s interest in availing the services of Norris as a race driver alongside 2x champion, Max Verstappen.

For McLaren however, the Brit is their only ray of sunshine. While his teammate, Oscar Piastri has been turning a lot of heads in the paddock with his supreme performances, it’s no secret that Norris is still the team leader. And as all teams would, the Woking-based outfit has a plan in the works to thwart any advances from Red Bull to lure their biggest asset away.

Andrea Stella reveals a one-point plan to keep Lando Norris tied down

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Both Norris and the Bulls have acknowledged the eventuality of the Brit partnering up with Verstappen at Milton-Keynes. However, McLaren and Andrea Stella have thrown a curveball their way with some resurgent pace recently. That’s exactly what the McLaren team principal has pinned all his hopes on.

While explaining how he plans on keeping Norris faithful, Stella was quoted as saying, “With Lando we are doing exactly the same thing, trying to prove as much as possible on the track than what we say in words.”

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With the microphone shoved Norris’ way after the team’s scintillating double podium finish at Japan, it would appear that Stella’s plan is indeed working.

Norris hints at future with McLaren

Norris’ current McLaren contract runs till the end of 2025. But with all the rumors swirling around, there are hints that he might even ditch the team before his term officially ends at Woking. Be that as it may, the result they achieved at Suzuka has had him whistling the opposite tune.

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via Reuters

After the race, he was quoted by The Independent as saying, “We’re on an upward trend. We’re making good progress and days like today prove exactly that. The progress we’ve made this season has been pretty incredible from my eyes, and from where we were to finishing 19 seconds behind the lead is, I think, evidence of exactly that.”

He concluded, “So I’m proud of everyone and we’ll keep pushing.”

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Has Japan 2023 convinced Lando Norris to stay put at McLaren in the long term?

WATCH THIS STORY | Lando Norris Evokes Senna Comparisons with Unique Quality, Shines Bright at British Grand Prix

Written by

Anirban Aly Mandal

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Anirban Aly Mandal is a senior F1 writer at EssentiallySports, with over 1000 articles published on the platform. Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 while playing on his computer, and he has since then dived deep into the world of motorsports. Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports.
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Edited by

Aishwary Gaonkar