McLaren executive director Zak Brown says he’s not going to rush McLaren junior Lando Norris into Formula 1 despite the high level of success already achieved by Norris.
The 17-year-old, who won the 2016 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship, is currently the leading rookie in this year’s European Formula 3 field.
Norris joined the McLaren young driver programme at the beginning of the year and Brown believes he has the potential to become a future F1 champion.
“He looks to be about as naturally talented as any driver that I’ve ever seen,” said Brown when speaking to GPUpdate.net.
“I think that [view] is shared by most people that have seen him race. He’s very focused on racing, very grounded. I definitely think he’s a future world champion.
“We’re very happy he’s in our system as he’s doing great in Formula 3, took pole and won his first race, and he’s third in the championship.”
Max Verstappen and reigning Euro F3 champion Lance Stroll graduated to F1 at 17 and 18 years old respectively, but Brown says he’s in no rush to promote Norris.
“He’s definitely got a strong future at McLaren but I think we’re not in a rush to get him into an F1 ride,” Brown added.
“This surge of ‘you’ve got to be 16, 17 18’… it wasn’t too long ago that 20 was young.
“We’re not going to rush [him], he’s really good, we’re excited.”
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