Horner confirms Red Bull-Norris talks “a couple of times over the years”

Horner’s comments come after Norris’ over the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, with the British driver saying he’d spoken to a number of teams including Red Bull: "It's more just I was coming to the end of my contract, and it wasn't like we [Red Bull and I] were talking heavily," Norris said. 

"I literally said, it was just, everyone always tries to speak to all teams at some point, so I spoke to them, I spoke to a few other people.

"A chat's a chat, it's not like, 'what we can do straight away?' Just keeping in touch, things like that, it's as simple as that sometimes. It was just coming to the end of the contract, you see what options are available, you just kind of find out what's possible, what might be possible over the next few years.

"It wasn't just Red Bull. Every driver has chats with a lot of the different teams on what could happen, and it's as simple as that basically."

Red Bull have reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen signed up until 2028, while Sergio Perez will remain with the team until the end of 2024 at least.

However, Horner confirmed that talks have taken place between Red Bull and Norris in the past.

“We’ve talked to Lando a couple of times over the years, but every time we’ve had a conversation, he’s signed a contract with McLaren the next day,”

“He’s on a long-term contract with McLaren and it looks like he’s going to be there a few more years.”

Outside of the top three teams, Norris has emerged since 2021 as F1’s hottest talents.

Should Mercedes need a replacement for Lewis Hamilton, or Red Bull want to upgrade on Perez, then Norris would be the ideal candidate, particularly if McLaren aren’t able to close in on the top three teams.