Norris names only team he'd leave McLaren for: 'There's only one place I would ever be interested in'

The Briton made his McLaren debut alongside Carlos Sainz in 2019 and has since established himself as one of the team's key figures. He has also become the driver with the most race starts in McLaren's history, with 159 Grands Prix to his name. Last year, he fulfilled the dream of his career by winning his maiden world championship after a thrilling title battle against his teammate and Max Verstappen.

Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of his home race weekend, which he won last year, Norris admitted there is only one team he would ever consider joining if he were to leave McLaren in the future, although he stressed that such a possibility remains a long way off. He reiterated that he is fully committed to the Woking-based outfit and sees it as the only team he truly wants to represent: "If there's any place I want to go, there's only one place I would ever be interested in. But that's very, very in the distant future. For now, I'm heavily committed to McLaren being the only team I'll ever want to be with.

The Brit described McLaren as his family and said he hopes to remain with the team for many years to come. He added that he is proud to be able to make that commitment, something he believes very few Formula 1 drivers have been able to do, while acknowledging that his desire to keep winning means the future can never be predicted with complete certainty.

Speaking to GPblog in Spielberg, Norris admitted he came to terms with the fact that McLaren would not be in a position to fight for race wins this season, explaining that the team had to redefine what success looked like. Instead of focusing solely on victories, he said the objective became extracting the maximum possible result from every session and every race weekend.

Using his third-place finish in Barcelona as an example, Norris said the podium felt like a victory because it represented the best result the team could realistically achieve. While he acknowledged that such an outcome would have been disappointing a year earlier, he stressed that expectations have changed and that McLaren's priority is to maximise every opportunity until the car is capable of consistently fighting for wins again.