Lando Norris has put pen to paper on a new long-term deal with McLaren, keeping him at the team he’s called home for nearly a decade. However, it wasn't just this news that was grabbing headlines; it was Norris' take on his pay and how it stacks up against Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen that has people talking. 

On August 29th, Norris announced his contract extension with the Woking-based team. While his exact salary has not been revealed, according to the Associated Press, under the new contract, Norris could reportedly be making up to $35 million per year, making him the third-highest-paid driver on the grid behind Hamilton and Verstappen.  

However, when questioned about the chatter surrounding his base salary climbing as high as $67 million that the seven-time world champion makes at Ferrari or the $95 million that the four-time champion makes at RedBull, he set the record straight during an interview with 'The Telegraph'. 

"I mean, I feel I should earn as much as them, but it [his new contract] is certainly not close to the figures that I've been seeing online, sadly!" Norris said during the interview with 'The Telegraph'.

Norris further spoke about why he feels that the pay gap was fair, pointing out to the achievements. 

"Of course, it is a bit more [than the last deal], as it is with any job when you extend. But it's certainly not close to the level of Lewis or Max. Which, in a way, it shouldn't be, because I've not achieved as much as what they've achieved in their careers."

He further added another point, suggesting that his on-track performances against the pair could justify a bigger paycheck. 

"But in another way, I believe it should be, because I believe I can fight against them whenever I need to, and I can do a better job whenever I need to. So yeah, I guess I have two opinions on it." Norris said during the interview. 

Pay debate aside, the bigger takeaway is Norris' commitment to McLaren, a team he's called home for nearly a decade, as both look to build on this season's title-winning form for years to come. 

Lando Norris speaks about his contract extension with McLaren 

Norris joined the Woking-based team in 2019 and has been with the team ever since, and has been a huge force in getting McLaren back to the front of the grid. 

While talking about signing the contract extension in the aforementioned interview, Norris was questioned if he’d like to be a one-team driver.  

"Yeah, I'm certainly very open to that, and I think I'd be very, very proud at the end of my career to say that has been the case," Norris said during the interview. "I've not been someone who's jumped from team to team, or jumped from a potential opportunity to potential opportunity. I've stuck with McLaren through times when there was the opportunity in the past to go elsewhere."

A similar sentiment was shared by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen when he signed his contract extension with the Milton Keynes-based team earlier this month. Verstappen has also been with Red Bull since his debut with the team at 19 in 2015.  

Like Verstappen, Norris now has the chance to build his legacy with a single team, an ambition he's made clear matters just as much to him as the titles themselves.

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco