At Suzuka, during the Japanese GP, McLaren confirmed itself - practically by detachment from its opponents - as second force on the track. The podium conquered by Norris and Piastri further certifies the excessive power of the MCL60, which has completely changed compared to the beginning of the season, when it was difficult to the Woking team he managed to cross the finish line in the top ten. The many developments brought to the car have allowed both Norris that Piastres to return to fighting against the top teams, deserving - at least in Piastri's case - also the renewal of the contract.
McLaren begins to dream with a sparkling couple
In fact, before the start of the Suzuka weekend, McLaren announced that Oscar Piastri has renewed his contract until 2026. A renewal that Piastri wanted to celebrate with his first podium in Formula 1, obtained in his debut year in the category. With the signing of grid number #81, McLaren can therefore rely on a pair of riders of a certain caliber to try, starting from next season, to aim for even higher positions in the constructors' classification.
After Piastri, is the renewal of Norris also coming? Stella: “We're working on it”
With the signing of Piastri, a lot of attention was paid to Lando Norris. The English driver is currently resting on his laurels, with his contract expiring in 2025, but the alleged requests for information from Red Bull – with a view to 2025, when Perez's contract will have expired – are quite worrying. Precisely for this reason, McLaren's idea seems to be very clear: try to extend Norris' contract even further. Team principal Andrea confirms this Stella, who spoke after the Suzuka GP: “We're having several conversations with Lando. We're talking about a positive dialogues and for this reason I can say that we are happy with how things are progressing. As far as the issue of trust is concerned, let's try to do the facts. From a human point of view we expressed our affection towards him, but we also need to talk about facts. For example, what are the foundations for the future so that we can have confidence in us. With Lando we are doing exactly the same thing, trying to demonstrate as much as possible on the track what we say in words".
