Former Le Mans winner Richard Bradley has suggested that Lando Norris could ‘surprise’ Max Verstappen should the two link up as team-mates at Red Bull. The 24-year-old Brit has been heavily linked with a switch to the Milton Keynes-based team for either the 2025 or 2026 seasons.
Norris is currently contracted with McLaren until the end of 2025, although there is likely to be some interest in his services one year prior to the expiry of his current deal as Red Bull search for a replacement for Sergio Perez, who is expected to leave the team at the end of the 2024 campaign.
The reigning champions’ interest in Norris became publicly known after Helmut Marko told Kleine Zeitung: “He has a contract with McLaren until 2025, but he is by far the strongest of the young drivers. His youthful nature would also suit him best to Red Bull. And it’s no secret that Max and he are good friends.”
Many neutral fans are keen to see Norris go head-to-head with Verstappen at Red Bull after watching the Dutchman dominate Perez en route to his third consecutive World Championship, although there has been much debate about how such a battle would play out.
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Speaking about the possibility of a Norris and Verstappen partnership, Bradley told the On Track GP podcast: “When Lando started dominating Daniel [Ricciardo], he always just gets on with his business in a certain way. And I think that will be quite surprising for Max. I think Max can deal with anything right now, and he’s proven that.
“But it will be a very different way to… I think under media scrutiny and stuff he’s behaved very, very well in the past, and so he would just quietly go about his business and we’ll just see. We’ll definitely see some competition. Whether he could beat Max, that’s another question, but they’ll definitely be close.”
Going up against Verstappen will certainly be a challenge for Norris. The reigning world champion dominated Perez this season, winning 19 Grands Prix compared to his team-mate’s two, finishing with over double the Mexican’s total points tally after the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Norris’ performances this season have been a warning sign for Verstappen though. The 24-year-old has finished on the podium seven times this season with six of those appearances coming on the second step and the McLaren driver was the most consistent challenger to the Dutchman throughout the second half of the campaign.
