Lando Norris offered MotoGP ride after 2025 F1 victory

2025 Formula 1 champion Lando Norris has been offered a test on a MotoGP bike next year by former Haas F1 chief Guenther Steiner.

Steiner led a consortium in September 2025 which acquired full ownership of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 MotoGP team. With the new structure taking effect from 2026, Steiner will assume the role of CEO and his project partner, Richard Coleman, will take the role of team principal.

Norris has often spoken about motorcycle racing, revealing it was his first love before turning his attention to four wheels. 

"You know what, I would love to do motorbike stuff. That's actually where I started," Norris said at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in August. "So I did horse riding - I hated that. Quad biking - my dad sold it, he said it got stolen, he just sold it because it was too dangerous for me. Then I went to motocross.

"So I love dirt motorsport - motorbikes, motocross, quad bikes, I loved all of that before I ever watched Formula 1, before I ever saw road racing, or anything.

"For me, buggies and desert stuff, I was like 'this is the coolest stuff in the world.' So that's actually what I wanted to do before everything. Motorbikes was where a lot of my love started, my hero was Valentino Rossi." 

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images

After claiming his first F1 championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Steiner extended an offer to the McLaren driver during an appearance on The Red Flags Podcast.

"He is welcome to ride our bike next year. It has the same colour [as the McLaren], papaya… OK, it’s orange, but they are very similar," he said.

"He can come and ride it; we will find a way to arrange it. It would be something nice for him, although I don’t know if Zak Brown would be happy to see him ride a MotoGP bike."