Norris tied down at McLaren? “F1 contracts not worth paper they're written on”
The talented British driver was spotted punching a wall in frustration after preseason testing at Bahrain, after McLaren already conceded their 2023 development was behind schedule.
Norris signed a contract committing to McLaren until the end of 2026 but, if they can’t deliver him the machinery to compete for an F1 championship, Kravitz believes he could find a way out.
“As for Lando, we’ve learnt by now that drivers’ contracts are not worth the paper they’re written on, and absolutely he could move anywhere at any time if the price is right, if a top team or a team with a more competitive car comes in for him, as they say in football, and taps him up, then anything’s possible,” he said.
“There’s no contract that can’t be got out of and if Lando loses the faith, then it’s absolutely possible he could move.
“But where would be the team that would come in for him?
“There have been tentative discussions (with Red Bull), but you also reflect that for a while in the past Zak Brown was advising Lando’s management team and they were very close to each other, so that might be slightly harder to get out of.”
McLaren’s spot at the top of the midfield has been threatened by a below-par weekend at testing, and the apparent emerge of Aston Martin.
Kravitz said about McLaren’s hopes: “There have been various rumours about their technical team and how maybe they need to add to it. I think James Key is a good technical director but I think there is a little bit more depth that they could go into.
“I’m not sure he has as many people alongside him, or behind him, or with him that the other teams have kind of grown to, so I think they could certainly do with strengthening the technical group they’ve got at McLaren.
“I think James Key is good and he could do with some more good people alongside him with some fresh views, from other teams perhaps.”
Jenson Button, the ex-F1 champion, also questioned Norris’ decision to pen a long-term contract at McLaren without seeing proof of a car that could win the title.
Norris laughed it off: “I respect people’s opinions – particularly Jenson’s because he has been through a lot of these times – so I take it all on board.
“I don’t ignore it, I get what he is saying a little bit. But if someone says c**p about me, then cool I will laugh about it and move on. Big deal. A few years ago I probably would have taken it a bit more to heart.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
