When Daniel Ricciardo joined McLaren in 2021, expectations were high for the eight-time race F1 race winner. His partnership with Lando Norris was seen as one of the best on paper and they were expected to steer McLaren’s growth as teammates.
Unfortunately, Ricciardo’s stint in Woking turned out to be a nightmare, and the team decided to terminate his contract even though he had a year remaining. They replaced Ricciardo with fellow Aussie and 2021 F2 Champion Oscar Piastri, and it is yet another exciting arrival to the team for McLaren.
Ahead of the 2023 campaign, Norris spoke about how Piastri is very different from Ricciardo. Of course, both drivers are in different stages of their careers, but their personalities are very contrasting, which Norris shared in an interview with Racing News 365.
According to the 23-year-old, Piastri is the exact opposite of Ricciardo at the moment. However, he feels this is because it is the Melbourne-born driver’s first-ever season in the sport.
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Lando Norris getting along well with Oscar Piastri
Norris went on to say that he is in his fifth year in Formula 1 at the moment, which makes him a lot more experienced than Piastri, who will be in his rookie season. The Briton looks forward to his new teammate’s debut, which he says will be a huge moment for him.
Talking about the current pre-season test, Norris feels that Piastri did a great job with the number of laps that he put in. The feedback has been helpful to the entire outfit, and Norris wants to build on that as the season progresses.
As a person, Norris admitted that he gets on very well on Piastri. “He’s a lovely guy,” he said. “And we’ve been getting on well so far, so I look forward to it.”
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Daniel Ricciardo’s plans for 2023
Ricciardo is one of the most popular drivers in F1, and him losing his McLaren seat has upset the majority of the community. After getting sacked by McLaren, there were rumors of Haas and Williams landing the Aussie driver in their team, but they did not materialize.
Ricciardo insisted that he did not want to remain in F1 just for the sake of it and would drive only for a team that was fighting at the front. Since no such team had a spot for team, he made a return to Red Bull as a third driver behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Ricciardo will take part in a select few practice sessions in 2023, and also represent Red Bull in commercial and marketing activities.
