Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris fancies himself a drive at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the future. With McLaren’s expanding endurance racing programme, there’s an increasingly available route for such an ambition to be realised.
Speaking in a video published to McLaren’s YouTube channel, the 2025 drivers’ champion discussed his aspirations beyond the tight cockpit of a papaya-coloured F1 car.
“You know, I still feel like I want to go and try other things,” he said. “Do Le Mans, now McLaren are doing Le Mans, so maybe go and do that at some point.
“But I don’t know. I’m still young, so I’ve not thought of everything just yet. But, you know, in the future hopefully I have kids and they get into racing or something and then I can live the story again.”
The Woking-based manufacturer has made solid progress in endurance racing, recently unveiling the MCL-HY Hypercar – the machine that will compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 2027.
It has already been driven in anger by Mikkel Jensen, who became the first driver to test a top-category McLaren sportscar since the Le Mans-winning F1 GTR.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown had already teased the idea of both Norris and his team-mate Oscar Piastri being involved in the programme.
McLaren MCL-HY
Photo by: McLaren
“I love the old school racing,” he told WEC TV in early 2025. “The Mario Andrettis, Dan Gurneys… they ran in different formulas… Now, with how big the sport is corporately, you get into manufacturer conflicts, sponsor conflicts, calendar conflicts, and that’s why I loved racing with Fernando so much. Whether it’s Le Mans, Indy or Dakar, he just wants to race.
“I think we are very open-minded,” he added. “Who doesn’t want to win Le Mans? I’ve talked to Lando and Oscar about it, and they’ve said they’d love to go race Le Mans. That’s cool, right? I think all these motorsports converging are great.
“We love sportscar racing [at McLaren]. We’re the only team to have won the Triple Crown, it’d be cool to go for it again. We’re impressed with the rules, the competition.”
Norris had confirmed his interest during the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, too, where he told reporters he’d “love” to take on Le Mans. As Brown stated, orchestrating a Le Mans campaign would require careful scheduling around such a lengthy F1 calendar.
Having secured the championship win last year, the 26-year-old seems to be casting his gaze towards La Sarthe.
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