LONDON (AP) — Defending world champion Lando Norris has extended his contract with McLaren until at least the end of 2030, the F1 team said Saturday.
McLaren said the new deal features “a multi-year option to commit beyond that date.”
Financial terms were not announced. The Press Association news agency said the British driver's new contract could be worth up to $35 million a year.
The 26-year-old Norris secured McLaren’s first drivers’ title last year since Lewis Hamilton won his first championship in 2008.
“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.
“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.”
The announcement came just over a week after his rival for the last two titles, Max Verstappen, similarly committed to 2030 with Red Bull.
These are very long contracts by F1 standards. Racing with McLaren into 2030 would mark 12 seasons for Norris with the team since his debut in 2019. That would match the current F1 record of Lewis Hamilton’s 12 seasons with Mercedes for the most by a driver with the same team, though Verstappen’s contract puts him on course to break that.
Norris won the Dutch Grand Prix on Aug. 23 after his victory in Hungary before the midseason break. He is currently fourth in the standings, trailing leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes by 83 points. Ahead of next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, the back-to-back wins reignited talk of a successful title defense but Norris said he doesn’t yet have a car capable of vying for the championship.
“I know I’ve just won two races in a row and had two poles in a row, but at the minute I don’t have the car I need to fight for a championship,” Norris said. He added that the right changes to target McLaren’s troubles in slow-speed corners could set him up to chase down Antonelli.
Norris has raced in 163 Grands Prix for McLaren, more than any other driver in the team's history, securing 18 pole positions, 48 podiums, and 13 wins.
“He is an exceptional driver, someone who combines outstanding natural speed with maturity, consistency and a strong commitment to McLaren, but above all, he is a special human being who is valued by everyone in the team,” said Andrea Stella, the McLaren team principal.
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McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain holds the trophy after winning the Formula One Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort , Netherlands, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Record 15-time European champion Real Madrid will start the league phase of the Champions League on Sept. 8 when it hosts Inter Milan.
Match dates for each of the 36 teams' eight-game schedules were published Saturday by UEFA, two days after the draw in Monaco.
In two early starts on the opening day, Club Brugge will host Aston Villa and AEK Athens will welcome LASK, the newcomer from Austria. Both games will kick off at 6:45 p.m. (1645 GMT).
One day later, defending champion Paris Saint-Germain will host Slovan Bratislava — coached by Yaya Touré, the first African leading a team at the league phase — and Liverpool will host Atletico Madrid, a repeat of their opening game last season. That was a 3-2 win for Liverpool at Anfield.
Debut-making Sabah of Azerbaijan will start at Manchester United on Sept. 10, the same day Como hosts Leipzig and Bayern Munich welcomes Bodø/Glimt.
Manchester City hosting PSG on Oct. 14 is a highlight of the second round of games played more than one month later, after the new and extended four-game slate for national teams.
PSG will then face Barcelona at Parc des Princes on Oct. 20, one day before Bayern Munich hosts Arsenal.
Barcelona’s next trip will then be a long way east to play Sabah in Baku on Nov. 25, before the Spanish champion hosts Man City on Dec. 8.
Arsenal will host Real Madrid on Dec. 9 for the first of coach Jose Mourinho's scheduled two visits to London.
Madrid will return on the final match day, Jan. 27, to face Shakhtar Donetsk at Chelsea, where Mourinho won three Premier League titles for the club's Russian then-owner Roman Abramovich. Stamford Bridge is the Ukrainian champion’s choice of neutral venue for its four home games.
The two Norwegian teams each must have a home game in January, during their domestic offseason when the weather should be most severe, and both will be in the seventh round.
Bodø/Glimt will welcome host Atletico Madrid to the Arctic Circle at its tiny stadium on Jan. 19 and Viking will welcome PSV Eindhoven to Stavanger one day later.
The final round on Jan. 27 sees all 18 games start at the same time, when it’s 9 p.m. in central Europe, and Barcelona will host newcomer Como coached by its former star Cesc Fabregas.
Como gets the toughest January run-in after hosting PSG one week earlier.
PSG will finish by hosting Galatasaray, Arsenal will host Sabah and Bayern will host Real Betis.
The top eight teams in the final standings go directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams placed ninth to 24th enter the knockout playoffs in February to decide the other eight teams in the round of 16. Teams placed 25th to 36th are eliminated.
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Manchester City's Erling Haaland applauds the fans at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Manchester City in London, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring during the La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Real Sociedad in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
