McLaren's Lando Norris 'learned a lot' from his two years as Daniel Ricciardo's teammate
- Planet Sport writer
- 12 January 2023
British racer Lando Norris revealed that even though his partnership with Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren did not get a happy ending, he was able to learn a lot from the experienced Australian.
Norris, at just 23 years old, is already considered one of the fastest driver's on the grid and certainly has the potential to be a future world champion.
However, the past two years have not gone to plan at McLaren with the team sliding the wrong way down the Championship standings from third in 2021 to fifth in 2023.
Part of the struggles have come from a car that just could not compete with those at the front of the grid but another issue was how much Ricciardo struggled to adapt to things at McLaren, which often meant Norris was driving without support and strategy options were limited.
That being said, Norris revealed he was able to learn a lot from his time as Ricciardo's teammate, especially with the mental side of being a world class racecar driver.
"I've been able to learn a hell of a lot from Daniel," he told ESPN.
"His approach to racing, his mentality with it all, through the tough times. how he keeps so strong with it all and has so much belief in himself.
"That's something I struggled with a lot with when I came into F1 and something I've been able to learn a lot from him over the past couple of years.
"But even on the driving side, how he drives the car in many ways. You can see those instances of what's made him so good.
"I try to take them on board. It's not an easy thing to do, but the more I've been able to learn from him, the better I've become and that's only a good thing for me."