“The whole thing was very good for me”- Lando Norris claims Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles helped him in 2021

Lando Norris thinks Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles in the early part of 2021 helped him to have an impressive campaign in 2021.

Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris joined forces in McLaren at the start of 2021. However, the Australian had a tough time settling with his new team.

At the same time, Norris became the focal point of McLaren’s all points in the championship. Talking about that phase, Norris claims that it was not a burden to be the sole earner in the team. Instead, it developed him as a driver.

“I think especially the first half of the season when Daniel was kind of getting up to speed a lot more was, I guess more how I can lead the team myself, and how I have to work, let’s say, without as much help of the other teammates, just because Daniel was getting up to speed,” said Norris.

“Now, it’s like we’re more equal, it’s just a different situation. But the situation was more like, “how can I push myself a lot more” when I… at that point of the year when I didn’t have help from the other half of the garage to push yourselves together, which is more of what we’ve had in the second half of the season.”

Also read: Daniel Ricciardo claims his integration into McLaren became tricky due to tough COVID-19 protocols

Lando Norris had to rely on himself

Norris talks about the whole experience. He thinks that one has to seek opportunities to explore the car. It is not possible to rely on your partner’s data.

“I think the whole thing was very good for me, and I learned how, if I can’t use the data from the other car, how I need to approach the weekends, how I need to drive. If you can drive differently, you have to try more things yourself.”

“You can’t afford to let the other car try these things and those things. You’ve to try as much as you can yourself. Leading the team and being alone a little bit more is definitely one of the biggest things.”

Also read: McLaren’s star driver looks to step up for the 2022 season

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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