Red Bull should “go hard” in trying to land the services of Lando Norris in 2025, according to former F1 driver Karun Chandhok.
Norris enjoyed a stellar season in 2022, scooping the only podium outside Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes with a third place at Imola, as well as going on to secure a strong seventh in the Drivers’ standings.
The Briton is locked into a long-term deal with McLaren – set to expire at the end of 2025 – and will step into the team leader role at Woking in 2023, with a new teammate in the form of rookie Oscar Piastri.
Norris has been touted as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton when he retires from F1 at Mercedes, while Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is a long-time admirer of Norris, having tried to get him into a Toro Rosso seat back in 2018.
Chandhok makes Red Bull Norris claim
While discussing the long-term future of the second Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen on the Sky Sports F1 season review, Chandhok said: “I think they should be going hard to try and buy Lando Norris.”
Given the tensions between Verstappen and Sergio Perez after the Brazil team orders situation – as well as reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo being slightly older – Chandhok felt the team could be a prime candidate to sign Norris.
This could also be pertinent given Verstappen has expressed doubt about his ultimate long-term future in F1, while there is a lack of standout candidates in the Red Bull young driver pool.
It was for this reason that Nyck de Vries was poached from the Mercedes family to slot into AlphaTauri after Pierre Gasly’s departure to Alpine.
