03/11/2022
NEWS STORY
Lando Norris has revealed that he had talks about a possible move to Red Bull before extending his contract with McLaren.
In early February, the Briton signed a deal that will see him remain with the Woking outfit until 2025, marking seven seasons with the team.
However, Norris has revealed that before signing on the dotted line he held exploratory talks with Red Bull.
"Of course there are talks with other people from time to time," he tells Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "You always ask yourself the question, 'What's best for my career?'
"After all, I want to win and win world championships," he adds. "There have been talks with Red Bull. They are a team that has been in the top three for years."
Just a month after Norris extended his contract with McLaren, Max Verstappen agreed a new deal that keeps him at Red Bull until 2028, while it was in May that Sergio Perez had his contract extended until 2024.
Asked in Mexico to give further insight in to his talks with Red Bull, Norris admitted: "It's more that I was coming to the end of my contract, it wasn't like we were talking heavily.
"I literally said, it was just... everyone always tries to speak to all teams at some point," he added, according to Motorsportweek, "so I spoke to them, I spoke to a few other people.
"A chat's a chat, it's not like, ‘what we can do straight away?' Just keeping in touch, things like that, it's as simple as that sometimes.
"It was just coming to the end of the contract, you see what options are available, you just kind of find out what's possible, what might be possible over the next few years.
"It wasn't just Red Bull," he admitted. "Every driver has chats with a lot of the different teams on what could happen, and it's as simple as that basically."