Formula 1: Will Lando Norris drive for Toro Rosso in 2019?

With Pierre Gasly set to leave Toro Rosso for Red Bull Racing in the 2019 Formula 1 season, will McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris be his replacement?

In June, it was revealed that Scuderia Toro Rosso attempted to replace struggling rookie Brendon Hartley with McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris during the current Formula 1 season.

However, McLaren blocked this deal from taking place, leading many people to believe that the team have plans to put the 18-year-old Briton in their Formula 1 lineup in the very near future, possibly as the replacement to two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso.

With Alonso having recently announced that the 2018 Formula 1 season will be his final season in the sport, Norris, who currently sits in second place in the Formula 2 driver standings driving for Carlin, was one of the most likely replacement candidates for him. However, the team opted to sign current Renault Sport driver Carlos Sainz Jr., who is set to be replaced by current Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo next season, as his replacement.

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With Ricciardo set to be replaced by current Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly next season, there is set to be one seat open at the Faenza-based team in 2019, and that is assuming that they re-sign Hartley, who hasn’t finished a race in higher than 10th place through the first 12 races of the season and sits in 19th in the driver standings with just two points.

Even if McLaren part ways with the struggling Stoffel Vandoorne, who hasn’t managed to finish in the top 10 in any of the last eight races, following the end of the season, Norris likely still wouldn’t get the opportunity to drive for the Woking-based team next season.

Current Force India driver Esteban Ocon has emerged as the 26-year-old Belgian’s most likely replacement candidate next season since current Williams Martini Racing Lance Stroll will likely replace him at Force India in 2019 as a result of the fact that a consortium led by his father Lawrence purchased the team after the backers of the team’s other driver, Sergio Perez, sent the team into administration to protect them against the threat of a winding-up order.

Could Norris end up driving Toro Rosso, the that McLaren blocked him from joining this season, next season? McLaren have admitted that they are willing to loan him to another team as long as he does not sign a long-term contract with another team that would cause him to leave McLaren.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown stated that the deal blocked by the team that would have sent Norris to Toro Rosso in the middle of this season was a deal that would have required Norris to part ways with McLaren. Here is what he had to say about the matter back in June, according to Autosport.

"“We’ve been approached by more than one team. We’ve had three approaches, of varying degrees. Some included this year, but we want him to focus on F2, and keep him at McLaren. If we felt it was good for his career, and good for McLaren, then we’d consider it on a case by case basis.“But all of the approaches meant he would have gone away, and we’re not interested in that conversation. That’s non-negotiable. We’re not going to train him up for someone else, but I don’t think anyone else has any interest in training him up for us.“We don’t have any sister teams. It’s not ideal. I think it shows that the FIA needs to look closely into how much influence teams have over other teams, because what they’re starting to do is to close down opportunities for people that are independent.”"

With Toro Rosso set to sign at least one new driver for the 2019 season, they might as well make Norris one of them even if they can only get McLaren to loan him to them.

Plus, at this point, it is unlikely that Red Bull Racing would be in any hurry to promoted Norris to Toro Rosso, the Red Bull Racing junior team, so there would really be no advantage in signing him to a long-term deal anyway.

The team just confirmed that the 22-year-old Gasly would become a teammate to 20-year-old Max Verstappen next year, so they are by no means a veteran team looking to replace an aging and/or washed-up driver.

Signing Norris would be a win-win for Toro Rosso and McLaren. Toro Rosso would get one of the best young drivers who is not currently driving in Formula 1, and McLaren would give their star youngster a chance to develop into better Formula 1 driver before they officially sign him as one of their two drivers.

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Will Lando Norris drive for Toro Rosso in the 2019 Formula 1 season? Will he end up driving in Formula 1 for another team if he doesn’t? If so, which team will he drive for next year?

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