Lando Norris believes going head-to-head against Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren in 2021 can only be a positive for his Formula 1 career.
Following two years of being teamed up with Carlos Sainz, Norris enters his third year in Formula 1 paired with Ricciardo, who has seven grand prix victories to his name.
Both drivers were present at the launch of the MCL35M earlier this week, before the car received its first on track outing at Silverstone as part of a filming day.
Norris states that having a fresh team-mate on board will only benefit him, as it allows him to view alternative work methods.
“I only see it really as a positive,” Norris said. “Mainly from he’s a guy who’s been credited, he can win races, he can score podiums, he’s good in probably every single area.
“For me to learn that little bit more from a different driver, get to know someone who has a different approach on things and not kind of get into the same habits that you know from one particular driver.
“It’s good for me to just experience something different within Formula 1, get to see how another driver performs. In Formula 3 and Formula 4 you sometimes have three or four team-mates, so you’re able to work with a lot of different people.
“Whereas Formula 1 and also Formula 2 it’s just one team-mate and it’s a bit harder to know as much, you kind of get used to working in one particular way or style with that other driver.”
Norris added that the only communication he has had with Ricciardo prior to 2021 was their interactions at press conferences and paddock interviews.
“The only contact I had with him was probably when you saw it and that was in press conferences or interviews and so on, just in the paddock, on the grid, those kind of things,” Norris stated.
“We very rarely spoke via text or on the phone or anything like that. I guess similar to Carlos, I probably knew Daniel a little bit more than I knew Carlos entering Formula 1.
“I never spoke to Carlos once until the first day we actually met here in the MTC. With Daniel obviously I know him a little bit more already so it was slightly different, things were a little bit further along.
“We never really spoke that much last year or over the last two years or even during this winter.
“We’ve both been doing our own thing, but the last few weeks or so, getting back to work and working together is probably the most I’ve spoken to him.”
Discussion about this post