Reigning world champion Lando Norris says he is in a position at McLaren where he "can be forceful to try to get what I want" after signing a contract extension with the team. Norris claimed his maiden title in 2025 to become McLaren's first world championship winner since Lewis Hamilton triumphed for them in 2008. Having emerged victorious in an intense season-long title battle with his team-mate Oscar Piastri, Norris has further enhanced his status within the Woking squad by clearly outperforming the Australian so far in 2026.
The 26-year-old Brit's position at the centre of the team's future was cemented on Saturday when he signed a contract extension to stay with McLaren until at least the end of 2030, with a multi-year option to potentially extend further beyond that included in the deal. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Asked during an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News about how his role within the team has changed over time, Norris said: "You learn over the years when you should talk, when you shouldn't. "In terms of how much power you have as the driver and as an individual, in the first few years, you're not going to overstep any mark.
I'm certainly not going to raise my voice above someone else, kind of thing. "With time, you learn that my role is not simply just driving the car. It's also how can I be a leader, how can I lead the team, how can I be a voice for all the people that work here, all the guys and girls?
How can I push them to do better, to be better? As well as pushing myself, of course. And how can we all work and do that as a team?" Norris is driving his eighth season for McLaren, having been given his F1 debut by the team as a 19-year-old in 2019.
His 163 Grand Prix starts are a team record, with Norris having surpassed fellow Brit David Coulthard's mark of 150 at last year's Qatar Grand Prix. He continued: "I've just learned the power that I can have and influence I can have over directions that we work in as a team. Of course, I never want to abuse that, but at the same time, I know that I'm in a position where I can be forceful to try and get what I want, from a car, from the team, from people around me.
"And that's a very important thing. You've got to utilise that, I think, as an athlete, no matter what sport you're in. You've got to know how to try and get what you want as an individual.
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