“Daniel Is My Inspiration for Smiling”: Lando Norris Gushes About Missing Ricciardo’s Presence at McLaren

Daniel Ricciardo lost out on his place at McLaren prematurely at the end of the 2022 season. After failing to find a new seat, fans were admittedly heartbroken to see one of the most popular drivers temporarily leave the F1 grid. Earlier this week, his ex-teammate Lando Norris too, admitted that not having Ricciardo around in Surrey has been difficult because of the positive energy he brought around.

Norris and Ricciardo’s pairing excited fans even before they started their journey together. Ricciardo has always had a fun-loving personality, and when put together with Norris, who is one of the most promising drivers on the grid with a charismatic personality himself, McLaren had a staggering driver lineup to boast about.

Unfortunately for Ricciardo and his fans, this move didn’t work out on the track. Ricciardo was comprehensively outperformed by Norris. His life at McLaren became so difficult, that the team had to cut him off at the end of the 2022 season. Ricciardo’s young compatriot Oscar Piastri had replaced him in the papaya outfit.

Lando Norris admits to missing Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren

Ahead of the 2023 Austrian GP, Norris admitted that he misses Ricciardo a lot. The young Brit was part of an interactive session involving fans and Piastri at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. There, when the topic of Ricciardo came up, Norris said some things that warmed the hearts of everyone in attendance and fans all over the world.

“Daniel is my inspiration for smiling,” said Norris in the interview (shared on Twitter by comfort lando). “I miss him. we had dinner together the other night. yeah, sad but I love Daniel.”

As expected, these comments were very well received by the fans. As soon as Norris complimented Ricciardo, admitted to missing him, and revealed that he had dinner with him, the fans in attendance started cheering loudly for the duo.

When is Ricciardo returning to F1?

Over the last few weeks, rumors about Ricciardo making a return have grown stronger. He will be taking part in a tire test for Red Bull, driving the RB19 in Silverstone this season. However, what fans are keeping an eye out for is how Helmut Marko assesses him.

Being the reserve driver for Red Bull currently, means that he has an opportunity to impress Marko and make his way into the AlphaTauri team at the very least.

On top of that, rookie AlphaTauri driver Nyck De Vries is having a woeful season so far. Ricciardo, who has seven race wins with Red Bull could very well become a part of the Faenza-based outfit next campaign, to provide them with some much-needed stability.