So Lando Norris has signed a new contract with McLaren that will extend his stay with the team until 2030. His previous contract was due to expire in 2028. The timing is interesting: Norris’s new deal was announced a week after Max Verstappen extended his contract with Red Bull.

But in Formula One, contracts are almost meaningless. There are so many performance-based exit clauses and compensation mechanisms for early termination written into them that a modern F1 contract can appear more like a loaded weapon than a watertight agreement.

Norris will stay only if McLaren continues to produce competitive cars, and McLaren will happily retain Norris only if he continues to perform, win races and battle for championships.

A modern Formula One contract is more of a Mexican standoff than an agreement between two entities prepared to work together for the greater good of the team. But who knows? I might be wrong. I only see the inside from the perspective of the outside.

Norris has a long relationship with McLaren, having joined the team at 17 in 2017 and becoming a full-time Grand Prix driver in 2019 at the age of 19. He has always shown raw speed and has maintained a high level of performance ever since.

He did wobble against Oscar Piastri initially, but he has since seen off his teammate and, of course, is currently the reigning F1 World Champion.

But in Formula One, contracts are never watertight. One day, Norris will want more money at a different team, but that team will also need to have a competitive car.

And it goes the other way too. When 2030 arrives, McLaren might reach the conclusion that Norris is getting too old and that they need to turn to the next generation to find his replacement. This is the unwritten law of the F1 jungle.

For now, the relationship appears everlasting and unbreakable, but that will not always be the case.