McLaren Formula 1 boss Andrea Stella believes Lando Norris is “ready” to become a future title winner as his constant evolution is comparable to previous champions.
Norris capitalised on McLaren’s remarkable mid-season turnaround last term to register his strongest year in F1, logging seven podiums to amass a career-best 205 points.
However, the Briton’s protracted wait to land an elusive F1 victory has stretched into a sixth year, with rookie team-mate Oscar Piastri landing a win in the 2023 Qatar Sprint.
But Stella, who has worked with Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher, reckons Norris has developed into the complete package that resembles such all-time greats.
“Lando definitely stands together with them,” he told Autosport. “It is the same category, the same kind of World Championship material, the underlying talent, the mindset, the work ethos. It’s all ready to go.
“But at the same time, when you think about champions, there is a characteristic of champion in that they only get better. Real champions, they seem to just improve year by year.
“And I think that’s the case because they use the intelligence, the ethos, and they get the best people around them. They do whatever it takes to get better and better because the sport gets only more and more competitive.”
Stella pinpoints that Norris’ series of practice outings prior to his F1 debut in 2019 demonstrated the potential he had and his craft has continued to be refined ever since.
“Definitely we have all the raw material, which we saw already when Lando was doing the free practice one [sessions] with us,” he said. “It was very evident in 2018.
“And then it kept growing. It’s there, we just need to keep growing year after year like every champion does. But we are extremely happy and committed to Lando, in this respect.”
McLaren announced last week that Norris had penned a fresh long-term contract extension to remain with the squad into the upcoming regulation overhaul set for 2026.
Despite being the reported subject of interest from Red Bull, Norris expressed that he elected to renew to ensure that the team would not become distracted by speculation.
“I think it’s just a very, very good time, especially when it’s going to be coming to a couple of years where things start to get a bit more crazy with everyone else’s contracts, and people potentially moving teams and things like that,” the 24-year-old explained.
“Going into ’26, and those years of new regulations, that’s not something I think I or the team want to be thinking of, or focusing on, or spending any time on in such an important couple of years.
“I’m comfortable, I’m happy with where I am, and the team are happy with me. So it’s just an easy decision.”
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