Lando Norris had predicted that Daniel Ricciardo would have more pressure at McLaren than him even before the Australian arrived at Woking. The Briton believes that the same is no secret as Ricciardo was far more experienced than him. Ultimately, the pressure seemingly proved too much for the 34-year-old. McLaren parted ways with him at the end of last season following two disappointing campaigns.
Even though Ricciardo was already a seven-time Grand Prix winner when he arrived at McLaren, Norris seemed unmoved. In his biography, Norris explains how since he had already had Carlos Sainz as his teammate previously, the challenge of facing Ricciardo was not much harder for him.
“I worked with Carlos and he is an extremely good driver and there are things that Carlos is going to be better than Daniel and vice versa. I don’t believe that Daniel is a big step above anything that Carlos has achieved, so it doesn’t change much for me. There is more pressure on him because he has been in F1 for longer“, explained Norris.
Although Ricciardo did underperform in comparison to Norris even in their first season as teammates, the Australian’s performance dipped significantly in the season after. In 2021, Ricciardo finished eighth with 115 points in comparison to Norris’ 160.
However, in 2022, Ricciardo finished all the way down in eleventh with just 37 points. On the other hand, Norris finished seventh with 122 points.
Since Ricciardo had such a tough time at McLaren, he himself admitted that he needed to take a break away from F1 to rejuvenate himself. It all seems to have worked out for the Honey Badger, who is now back in the sport with AlphaTauri.
Daniel Ricciardo had a dramatic return to F1 in 2023
Daniel Ricciardo began the 2023 season only as a reserve driver for Red Bull. A few months later, he received a call from AlphaTauri to replace the sacked Nyck de Vries. After just a couple of races with the Italian outfit, the 34-year-old suffered a wrist injury.
As a result of the same, he missed a few races and was replaced by Liam Lawson. However, Ricciardo did return for the final few races and delivered some decent performances. Even though Ricciardo wanted to take some time off F1 this year, he decided to return earlier as he realized at the start of this season that he still had the passion for the sport.
As quoted by formulapassion.it, the former McLaren driver said, “Melbourne was my first time on the track this year. I sat in the pit lane and saw the cars. That’s when I said to myself, ‘ I’m not done yet’“.
Meanwhile, in several other interviews, Ricciardo has also expressed his desire of how he wants to have a fairytale ending to his career by returning to the main Red Bull team. Christian Horner too admitted that the 2025 seat is up for grabs and that Ricciardo is one of the candidates for it.
