Verstappen sent offer to quit Red Bull and join F1 rival keen to be team-mate

29 August 2023 , 10:30

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Two-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen (Image: Getty Images)

Lando Norris has jokingly invited Max Verstappen to join him at McLaren if he ever gets 'bored of winning', with the Brit admitting he would 'love' to be team-mates with the two-time F1 world champion one day.

Norris has previously been linked with a move to Red Bull, with the team's adviser Helmut Marko branding him 'the strongest of the young drivers' and suggesting he would be 'best suited to Red Bull'.

The two drivers are close friends and when quizzed about the chances of him joining Verstappen at Red Bull, Norris replied: "I would love an opportunity to do it in the future. Maybe when Max is bored of winning he can come to McLaren."

Norris also labelled Verstappen "one of the best drivers you'll ever see in Formula 1" when asked if he thinks he can beat him. "I'd like to think so," he replied. "It's impossible to say yes or no.

"I'm not the guy that has so much confidence that goes, 'Yeah, easy'. I think it's impossible. I don't think anybody ever can just go, 'Yeah, I can beat Max'. He is one of the best drivers you'll ever see in Formula 1.

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"Even when he is winning, be happy that you are witnessing what he is able to achieve because I don't think many people can do a similar thing. But I do want to believe that I will be able to race and compete against him and give him a fight."

Verstappen has also admitted he and Norris will 'talk about' the prospect of becoming team-mates one day, although Norris is under contract with McLaren until the end of the 2025 F1 season.

Lando Norris has joked Verstappen should join him at McLaren when he gets 'bored of winning' (Hasan Bratic/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

"We talk about it," Verstappen told Sky Sports in Italy. "But he's contracted to McLaren for a long time. We'll see what happens in the future." However, McLaren CEO Zak Brown is confident Norris will stay with the team beyond 2025.

"He loves McLaren, it's been his family, so there's no doubt in my mind is his number one choice is to win a world championship with McLaren," Brown told ESPN. I think the best thing we do to retain him is to demonstrate to him we're a team capable of doing that.

"It's not a case of wooing him or not wooing him, it's about giving him a car where he can look himself in the mirror and say 'I think I can win a world championship with this team'."

Matthew Cooper