Sports
Lando Norris signs new long-term McLaren F1 deal to end of 2030 with option for further extension
Lando Norris has signed a new long-term contract extension with McLaren that will keep him with the Formula 1 team until at least the end of 2030.
Norris, 26, announced the news at McLaren’s annual family and friends open day on Saturday morning at its factory in Woking, UK, committing his future to the team with which he has spent his entire F1 career.
The British driver won his first F1 world title last year, ending McLaren’s 17-year wait for a drivers’ championship after beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by two points in the final standings.
Although Norris was still under contract at McLaren for next year, having signed his most recent long-term deal in early 2024, the announcement locks him in at the team for at least another four years.
Beyond the initial commitment that runs to the end of the 2030 season, McLaren also stated there was a multi-year option to extend beyond that date as part of the agreement.
The team also revealed as part of the contract announcement that Norris will be gifted his championship-winning MCL39 car from the 2025 season.
“McLaren is my home, and I’m very pleased to be signing a new contract to keep me with the team until at least 2030,” Norris said in a statement.
“When I started this journey nine years ago, I was clear about the goals I wanted to achieve: to get McLaren back to the front and to win championships. We’ve achieved that goal, but we want more, we want to keep on winning, and we know as a team that we’re capable of achieving it.”
Norris joined McLaren’s young driver academy in 2017 before joining its F1 line-up two years later, making his grand prix debut at the age of 19.
He scored his first F1 race win at Miami in 2024 before helping McLaren win that year’s constructors’ championship, the team’s first in 26 years, and finishing as runner-up to Verstappen in the drivers’ standings.
2025 brought Norris seven victories en route to last year’s drivers’ title, overcoming both Verstappen and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to clinch the championship at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Norris lies fourth in this year’s drivers’ standings, and has won the last two races in Hungary and the Netherlands.
A deal worthy of a world champion
Analysis by Luke Smith, Senior Writer, F1
There’s never been any doubt over Norris’s future with McLaren. As he said, the team is his home. It’s all he’s known in F1, and, importantly, has led him to realize his life dream of becoming world champion.
But this deal is a big show of faith from both Norris and McLaren in one another, keeping them together for at least another four years with an option to extend beyond that. Norris clearly views it as the place to be and McLaren has total confidence in him continuing to progress.
After his Dutch Grand Prix win last weekend, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said Norris was getting “stronger and stronger race by race,” and consistently producing performances befitting a world champion.
Norris ended McLaren’s 17-year wait for a drivers’ world champion (Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images)
The new contract also takes Norris out of any conversation around driver market movements in the coming years. Verstappen, who was linked with McLaren earlier this year, announced his own extension through to 2030 at Red Bull at the Dutch Grand Prix, putting the two drivers in sync.
It also serves as further stability for the setup at McLaren that has evolved the team into a back-to-back constructors’ championship winner. Stella and McLaren Racing’s CEO, Zak Brown, also have long-term deals in place, while Piastri’s latest multi-year deal was signed in early 2025 and the Australian has professed faith in realizing his dream of also becoming a world champion at McLaren.
Although the financial particulars of the contract won’t be revealed, it’s likely Norris’s status as a world champion has been reflected in his extended deal. The gifting of his McLaren car from last year is significant, given most teams tend to retain ownership of their models from each year.
Norris may not have had the car to challenge for the world championship from the very first race this year, the early part of the season instead being dominated by Mercedes, but his performances through 2026 have arguably been even better than last year.
There was never any reason for him to consider a move away from McLaren. But now Norris has the contract, commitment and, importantly, stability all set for the next chapter of his career.
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Sports
Harrison Armstrong: Nottingham Forest bid £40m for Everton teenager
Nottingham Forest have launched an ambitious bid to sign Everton‘s teenage midfielder Harrison Armstrong.
Forest are keen to strengthen before the end of the transfer window and, as reported by The Athletic, are preparing to offer £40m plus a potential sell-on clause to clinch a deal for Armstrong.
It would be a major surprise should Everton sanction a deal, but there is hope at Forest that they can pull off the move to prise away the elegant England under-19 star, who is regarded as having a big future ahead of him.
Armstrong, 19, has made 23 appearances for Everton and started in their 2-0 Premier League win against Crystal Palace last week.
As yet, there are no indications as to whether Everton will agree to sell, but there is sure to be an angry reaction from supporters, while manager David Moyes has also been frustrated by the transfer market this summer.
Moyes made it clear after the Carabao Cup second-round win at Preston North End that wanted more quality in his squad, with the clear hope Everton‘s American owners the Friedkin Group would provide backing for further incomings.
Since then, however, Everton‘s main creator Iliman Ndiaye has been heavily linked with Manchester City, and now Forest are ready to test their resolve over Armstrong.
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Sports
World Rowing Championships: Ben Pritchard retains PR1 sculls world title in Amsterdam
Welsh Para-rower Ben Pritchard retained his PR1 men’s single sculls world title at the Rowing World Championships in Amsterdam.
Pritchard, from Mumbles near Swansea, crossed the line in eight minutes and 50.46 seconds to set a new record at the World Championships.
The 34-year-old finished just shy of the eight minutes and 40.38 seconds world record time he set at the 2025 European Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
After a strong start, Italian Giacomo Perini and Australian Erik Horrie closed the gap on Pritchard towards the 500m mark before the Welshman stretched his lead, eventually winning by 6.81 seconds.
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Sports
Katie Boulter says cannabis smell at US Open is distracting
British number one Katie Boulter has complained that the smell of cannabis is putting her off her game at the US Open.
On Sunday, the final major of the season begins at Flushing Meadows in New York, where cannabis is legal for adults aged 21 and over.
Though smoking is not permitted on site, the smell of cannabis wafts on to court from nearby Corona Park and has bothered a number of players in previous years, including Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev.
Boulter, who is preparing to face American wildcard Carol Young Suh Lee in the first round, says it is possible to smell cannabis “a lot” on the practice courts.
“I’m not a huge fan of it,” said Boulter, the world number 60. “I know a lot of players have complained on some of the specific courts. I’ve played on one before and I did smell it during my match.
“It’s something that I wouldn’t like to smell in the middle of my match. I’m trying to focus and then obviously, it takes you out of the moment and you really don’t want to.
“You don’t need distractions. So yeah, I wasn’t a huge fan of it.”
The smell of cannabis has been a persistent issue at the US Open.
In 2022, Australian Open doubles champion Nick Kyrgios complained that a fan was triggering his asthma by smoking courtside, prompting the umpire to ask supporters to refrain.
Greece’s Maria Sakkari pointed the smell out to an umpire midway through a set in 2023, later clarifying that it wasn’t an excuse for her defeat.
The United States Tennis Association, which organises the event, says it works with the local police and parks department to reduce smoking on the site boundary.
It said: “While we can’t control what takes place off the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, we continue to be vigilant as we maintain this.”
Britain’s Fran Jones and Harriet Dart, who both qualified on Friday, have also noticed the smell.
“Last year I made a joke about that, in my first round, and I said to the guy, ‘is this normal?'” said Jones, whose tournament begins against Poland’s Magda Linette on Monday.
“Because I was on the stadium, and it’s next to the park. He’s like, ‘yeah”. and I was like: ‘Well, no wonder I’m playing pretty well.’
“This year I’ll be like ‘no, lock in, lock in!'”
After beating British compatriot Heather Watson in qualifying to set up a first-round match against the United States’ Peyton Stearns, Dart said: “I mean it’s New York. It’s New York.
“I feel like everywhere you walk around, it’s everywhere, no?
“It is what it is. Same for everyone.”
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