Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris shared one of the best bromances on the grid when they were teammates at McLaren. The duo often took friendly digs at each other and created a positive environment for the rest of the team. However, McLaren CEO Zak Brown wanted them to have more seriousness and be more competitive against each other than they actually were. Brown was unhappy as Norris and Ricciardo barely fought against each other on track.
Ben Hunt, on this, quoted Brown in his Lando Norris: A Biography book, “Everyone is expecting them to be a goofy odd couple, but I am expecting more seriousness. They are both out to prove something. Daniel is at the stage of his career where he wants to fight for a world championship and Lando is no longer the ‘younger brother’ of his teammate. They are both extremely fast and Daniel is very aggressive and I think they will be tough to each other on track.”
Norris was teammates with Carlos Sainz before Ricciardo arrived in McLaren. During Norris’ racing days with Sainz, they never had hard racing and often left room for each other, which Brown didn’t want in the case of Ricciardo and the British driver. As the CEO wanted more competition out of the duo for the team’s overall benefits, he was also ready to solve any intra-team tussles between them if such a situation ever arose.
Ricciardo’s struggles at McLaren never allowed the team to have a competitive driver line-up
The relationship between Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo was far from being a competitive one. While Norris led from the front and by example, it was drastically different for Ricciardo.
The British driver beat his Australian teammate in both seasons despite having less experience. While the 2021 season was decent for the Honey Badger because of a win he registered in Monza, the following 2022 season was a sheer disaster for him.
Therefore, the feeling surrounding Ricciardo was not great in McLaren who constantly failed to perform at his expected levels. In the end, Zak Brown and his team decided to part ways with the 34-year-old at the end of the 2022 F1 season. As a result, Ricciardo was forced to exit the team a year before his contract with the Woking team expired.
