Mercedes have one less option to replace Lewis Hamilton after Lando Norris little chats

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Lando Norris’ new long-term deal with McLaren – which does not include a get-out clause – has all but ended any prospect of him replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in the next few years. The rising British driver has extended his contract until the end of the 2025 season, it was confirmed on Wednesday.

Norris is one of the most exciting up-and-coming talents on the grid and secured a career-first pole position and four podium finishes in 2022 as he ended up sixth in the standings and collected 45 points more than team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

After his new deal was announced, Norris confirmed that he had held “little chats here and there” with rival teams interested in his Formula One future – and admitted he was aware of seats that would open up elsewhere.

Norris, who enters his fourth season this year, added: “There’s no point lying about it, there were little things there with various other teams, but nothing that went far at all.

“There were opportunities that we knew would be coming up in the future with various teams.

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“But this is a very strong message to put across to every one [of] the faith we have in each other, how strongly I believe McLaren can still recover and get to the front in the next few years.

“Which teams? That’s something I can’t say. Probably you’ll be able to guess reasonably well.

“There will be opportunities to maybe go to Red Bull or Mercedes and who knows if I would have had those opportunities.

“But the fact it’s known I would have had those opportunities, but have still chosen to stay with McLaren, is a good thing in all this.”

Whether Mercedes was one of those teams who held informal talks with Norris remains unconfirmed but they surely will have been keeping a close eye on the 22-year-old’s development with a view to an approach in the future.

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After all, they are one such team, as the Briton points out himself, who will have a major opportunity opening up in the coming years.

That’s with Hamilton – who tipped Norris to have “many more wins up ahead of him” after he was painfully denied a maiden race win at the Russian Grand Prix last season – now 37 years old and into the twilight of his career.

The seven-time champion could even walk away before the 2022 season but it is hoped that the decisions made once FIA’s investigation into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is completed result in him seeing out his contract, which currently expires when the 2023 season concludes.

Norris might previously have featured as one of the highest-profile candidates to replace the F1 veteran and race alongside newcomer George Russell were Hamilton to walk away at the end of 2023.

But his new multi-year deal means Norris is going nowhere. The fact the agreement has no get-out clauses means prising him from McLaren would not only be a near-impossible operation given their faith in him but hugely expensive if it were to be a successful one.

Who Mercedes turn to will depend on the exact timing of Hamilton’s departure from F1, whether it is this year, in 2022 or in 2023.

Esteban Ocon will be linked with the seat, though there seems no chance of the Silver Arrows ever stealing Max Verstappen or Charles Leclerc from Red Bull or Ferrari.

And indeed it looks as though Norris will spend the bulk of his F1 career with McLaren as he looks to become the first title-winning driver for the team since Hamilton himself in 2008.

McLaren hope they’ve finally found their long-awaited successor to Hamilton. Mercedes are hoping so too with Russell, but who actually takes the legendary driver’s own Silver Arrows seat when he gives it up is another matter entirely.

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