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<\/p>\nThe announcement that Lando Norris has signed a long-term extension to his McLaren contract did not come as a surprise.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just that he\u2019s the reigning champion \u2014 McLaren\u2019s first since Lewis Hamilton \u2014 or that his British team has a habit of re-signing its drivers early to keep itself above the fray of the silly season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not even that Norris was a McLaren junior who has expressed a desire to be a one-team driver.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship\u2122 LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThere was some interest from elsewhere, but I don\u2019t want to go anywhere,\u201d he told the BBC. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be with another team. I don\u2019t want to spend time with other people.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why it really was probably one of the easiest decisions I\u2019ve made since being in Formula 1.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s because a long-term contract is what the modern Formula 1 reality demands.<\/p>\n F1 has become a sport of franchise drivers locked into seemingly perpetual deals, their careers intertwined inextricably with their teams.<\/p>\n One part of that is because almost every team in the contemporary era has a well-developed, well-resourced junior driver program focused on finding and nurturing F1-calibre talent in the hope of cashing in on debut.<\/p>\n Seven of the eight drivers at the top four constructors either were developed by that team\u2019s junior program or got their debut directly with the team.<\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Lando Norris wins the Dutch Grand Prix, his second victory on the bounce. Is the reigning champion back in the title fight? And after a big week of driver contract announcements, what\u2019s next for the silly season? | Listen to Pit Talk now ><\/a><\/p>\n But another reason is that the stratification of Formula 1 has crystallised in recent years.<\/p>\n In Formula 1 today there\u2019s a group of four teams with the potential to contend for wins and titles in any given year.<\/p>\n There\u2019s then a big gap behind them, after which follows a vast group of midfielders \u2014 and sometimes one or two even more distant backmarkers \u2014 that scrap between themselves for a handful of points on all but the most exceptional of weekends.<\/p>\n The top teams expect loyalty from the drivers they\u2019ve invested in bringing to Formula 1, but those drivers realistically have no interest in leaving the exclusive group of winners, creating a small, exclusive and largely static ecosystem.<\/p>\n Changing constructors is possible, but only in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Lewis Hamilton\u2019s blockbuster switch from Mercedes to Ferrari was so spectacular precisely because it feels like the move of some long-forgotten age.<\/p>\n Hamilton\u2019s stratospheric status made that possible, but consider how Max Verstappen, just a few years later, appeared unwilling to break down any doors at rival teams when his contract escape clause became active this year.<\/p>\n Driver churn has all but ceased, and the so-called silly season has become staid and conservative. Midfield drivers increasingly prefer to bide their time in place rather than move sideways, hoping a call from above will come one day. <\/p>\n But as Norris\u2019s long-term deal proves, the opportunity for a frontrunning promotion is these days vanishingly thin.<\/p>\n Norris makes most of Max’s disaster | 02:45<\/p>\n WHAT\u2019S THE STATE OF PLAY?<\/p>\n Red Bull Racing announced earlier this month that Verstappen had renewed terms until the end of 2030<\/a>. That followed Charles Leclerc\u2019s extension earlier this year<\/a> for an undisclosed period, though the Monegasque\u2019s deal will run until 2030 at the earliest.<\/p>\n Norris now joins them under lock and key until at least the end of the decade, and McLaren says there is a \u201cmulti-year option\u201d to extend the deal beyond 2030.<\/p>\n Only Mercedes lacks a locked-in long-term driver line-up, but you can bet runaway title leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be offered extensive terms before the end of the year. It wouldn\u2019t be surprising if it ran until the end of 2030.<\/p>\n Drivers under contract, frontrunners<\/p>\n Mercedes: George Russell (2027), Andrea Kimi Antonelli (2026)<\/p>\n Ferrari: Charles Leclerc (2030), Lewis Hamilton (2027)<\/p>\n McLaren: Lando Norris (2030), Oscar Piastri (2028)<\/p>\n Red Bull Racing: Max Verstappen (2030), Isack Hadjar (2026)<\/p>\n That would make four teams with one driver contracted to the end of the decade and the other out of contract in the next two years.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t that long ago we were talking about these long-term drivers as \u2018franchise\u2019 signings \u2014 dependable top-level performers who reflect their teams as much as their teams reflect them.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s clear these top teams want more than just one driver signed on these sorts of terms.<\/p>\n ‘I had nothing, I don’t know why…’ | 00:51<\/p>\n Oscar Piastri is a good example. He wasn\u2019t a McLaren junior, but he was a McLaren gamble, pinched from under the nose of Alpine and given a Formula 1 debut in 2023. Piastri and McLaren showed faith in each other at a time the former was unproven and the latter was still in a long and painful form slump.<\/p>\n He almost won the championship in just his third season, and though he\u2019s struggling with the change of rules this year, on paper Norris and Piastri form \u201cone of the strongest partnerships but also on one of the most united and close-knit teams in Formula 1,\u201d according to team boss Andrea Stella. He was on a longer contract than Norris before this weekend.<\/p>\n