Lando Norris says he is prepared to wait for his McLaren team to give him a car capable of challenging for race wins before considering a switch to another team.
Norris made his Formula 1 debut for the team back in 2019. Gearing up for his fifth season, he is tied down with McLaren until the end of the 2025 season having signed an extension last year.
But still, speculation persists that he could be poached by one of the big three. Norris is widely regarded as being capable of challenging for the title given a competitive car – but he does not yet have an F1 race win to his name.
McLaren pulled the covers off their 2023 car on Monday and affirmed their desire to return to the top four after being beaten by Alpine last season. That, the team hopes, will be a stepping-stone on the way to challenging for the title in the next few years.
While Norris' ambition and competitiveness is undoubted, he says he is willing to give his team the time to prove that their talk of titles is more than just bluster. "We are a team who should be able to win championships and we will soon have everything in place to do so," said the Brit.
"I am probably not the most patient guy in the world, but it is something you need to learn to have in F1. I am just doing my job one day at a time and that's the way I go about it.
"A successful year would be to still take some big steps forward, a year where we can get back to fighting at the front of the midfield confidently – that's something that slipped away from us last year – and leading the fight for the top three teams.
"If we can end this season around that spot, where are fighting for fourth constructor and leading the way to the top three, we can be happy. That is a realistic goal. You can't expect us to be level with the Red Bull and Ferrari and Mercedes this year, there is still a way to go for that."
His words come after ex-F1 racer Karun Chandhok told Mercedes to target Norris when they need to replace Lewis Hamilton. "No doubt about it, Lando has got to be the number one pick – he's got to be Mercedes' number one pick to replace Lewis," he said.
