Lando Norris Breaks Silence
Lando Norris Breaks Silence
Lando Norris is undoubtedly McLaren’s golden boy for the foreseeable future as the British driver is still in the midst of his $96 million multi-year contract with McLaren that expires by the end of the 2025 season. But as Lando is on the ascent in his career, his teammate Daniel Ricciardo has been on the decline since his arrival at McLaren with only one win slash podium finish in the last 2 years.
And as we’ve all heard by now, it is close to a done deal that Daniel won’t be with the papaya team next season and so far, Lando has been hush about the situation. So, what does Lando think about Daniel’s current situation? Does he think it’s Daniel’s fault or does the team have some responsibility for Daniel’s rapid decline? Well, let’s talk about it then. But before we do, consider subscribing to the channel so you don’t miss out on our latest uploads. Now that’s out of the way, let’s get into it.
Since Lando’s arrival at McLaren, the British driver has always extracted the absolute most of every package the team has given him each season. And while many McLaren fans hoped that the new regulations would wipe the slate clean and remove any of the issues the team’s past cars had faced, it seems as though that is not what happened as Lando has come out to say the MCL36 is still a tough package to handle. In a recent interview with Motorsport.com, Lando would say:
“I don’t think you can probably in any way say the car is made around me. From what I want from the car, it’s like the opposite of what it’s giving me at the minute! I would say the car I have now is completely not what I want for my driving style and very unsuited for me. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just that’s what it is and you have to adapt to it. That’s why I feel like I’ve done a reasonable job this year, adapting to something that isn’t quite what I want or like. That’s one of the improvements I’ve made over the last few years.”
But even with arguably the toughest package he has ever had to deal with, Lando has still been able to score 76 points for the team and a podium finish at Imola. Compared to Daniel who has only scored 19 points for the team and for a better half of the season battling with the back markers rather than finishing within the points bracket. The huge disparity between the 2 in performance has led many to ask whether or not McLaren is favoring one driver over the other in their development plan. Lando would reply to these rumors by saying:
“I’m giving my opinion and saying what I feel like will help me go quicker in the car. Sometimes that’s a bit different from what Daniel has. But in general, we are still aligned as a package with what we need to improve on. Definitely [I’m having] a bit more of a voice. I don’t like talking too much because everyone has their own job and everyone is professional in their own job. Sounding my opinion and talking about it a little bit, whether I lose every opinion I have, I don’t care. Just speaking up a little bit more and being confident in that stuff is always a good thing.”
On the other hand, Daniel would give praise to how Lando has been carrying himself this season saying:
“The on-track stuff, people can see he’s been driving very, very well. But I think, as well, that gives you confidence, and then that confidence shows off-track. I think the way he’s pushing the team as well, he’s started to get a good handle on that. He’s just showing growth, I guess, showing another kind of level of confidence but with that bit of maturity as well.”
As mentioned earlier, Lando Norris is spearheading the team’s battle with Alpine for P4 in the constructor’s standings, which team principal Andreas Seidl thinks is an impressive feat considering that this is only his 4th season in Formula 1. In Seidl’s words:
“The thing which was quite impressive for me to see was how he was dealing with a difficult start of the season this year, especially for him as an ambitious race driver after the good season we had last year. For sure, he was disappointed as well but he helped me quite a lot as well in order to make sure that everyone stays on track, helped me keep pushing the team forward, motivating the team in order to get back on track as quickly as possible. It would have been so easy also for him to just be frustrated and start to become negative and so on, but it was the complete opposite. How he approaches race weekends, the way he demands things he needs in order to get the maximum out of the car or out of the team on the weekend, the way how he goes into qualifying, how he prepares himself for a race, he’s impressive. At the same time, we know he’s only going into his fourth year in Formula 1 or he is in his fourth year so be it which also means there’s still a lot more to come from his side, which makes me even more positive looking forward and knowing that he’s with us for many, many more years.”
And now that the team and Daniel, are embroiled in a battle of nerves, it is undeniable that there is a mixture of tension and disappointment within the team as Daniel has not lived up to their expectations and vice versa. But Seidl would say that getting caught up in the drama and disappointment will not help both Ricciardo and the team to finish the season strong and ideally ahead of Alpine in the constructors’ championship.
“It is clear that if you look at how the season has gone so far with Daniel, he’s disappointed [and] we are disappointed as well,” Seidl said. But in the end, frustration or disappointment doesn’t help you, moving forward. The most important thing is to keep going with a clear ambition to make it work. That’s why we put in a lot of energy within the team in order to see what we can do on the car side for example to help him feel more comfortable with the car, especially when it comes to qualifying when he has to push the car to the absolute limit. Also from his side, he’s absolutely committed and puts in a lot of energy together with the engineers also back home in Woking to find these last percentages which are missing from time to time.”
Ricciardo’s recent rapid decline has also made fans question on whether or not the honey badger has ever considered retiring. In a recent interview, Daniel would address this by saying that his one and only win with Mclaren so far at Monza last season and the high that he felt during the celebrations is what is keeping him motivated to stay in the sport. Daniel would continue on saying:
“That’s the easy way out, I guess. It’s not even that. It goes back to what I still feel. Even if it’s a bad weekend and I’m still upset on the Sunday night, 99 per cent of the time I’m waking up Monday and I’m just like, ‘The switch is flipped’, and it’s back to the next thing. I guess all the signs are there that I still want this as much as I always have. And, of course, the competitor in me… you find other bits of motivation, you find whatever you need to keep you going. The answer is, I’m still finding a lot to keep me going – it’s as simple as that.”
Once the season resumes next week, Daniel will have 9 races left to gain back his former form and impress either McLaren to make him worthy for the team to keep him or other teams to ensure that he has some bargaining power to work with once he starts looking for a new home next season. But what do you think? What are the chances of Daniel finally figuring it out in the last 9 races of the season? Let us know in the comment section below and as always, don’t forget to like and subscribe to the channel if you haven’t!
