Lando Norris on Daniel Ricciardo: "The more I've been able to learn from him, the better I've become"

Lando Norris feels that the partnership with Daniel Ricciardo has helped him learn a lot on both the driving and the mental side of the sport.

The two drivers first teamed up in 2021. Ricciardo was expected to be the lead driver in the team, but Norris comprehensively outperformed the Australian in the two seasons they worked together.

Ricciardo was not comfortable with the car. Such was his drop in form that McLaren replaced him with Oscar Piastri for the 2023 season. In an interview with ESPN, Norris, though, had only praise for his former teammate, saying that he learnt a lot from Ricciardo. Norris said:

"I've still been able to learn a hell of a lot from Daniel. His approach to racing, his mentality with it all, (you) see in the tough times how he keeps so strong with it all and has so much belief in himself. That's something I struggled a lot with when I came into F1 and something I've been able to learn a lot from him over the past couple of years."

Norris added that looking at Ricciardo's onboards was a clear indication of what made him so good as it helped him as well in learning new things. He said:

"Even on the driving side, how he drives the car in many ways. Like you can see those instances of what's made him so good, and I guess I've tried to take them on board. It's not an easy thing to do, but the more I've been able to learn from him, the better I've become, and that's certainly a good thing for me."

Norris (122) finished well ahead of Ricciardo (37) last season.

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He's one of the funniest and the nicest guys: Lando Norris on Daniel Ricciardo

Norris continued that Ricciardo is one of the funniest and nicest guys on the F1 paddock. He said:

"It's been an honour, it's been a lot of fun. (He's) one of the funniest guys and also nicest guys, I would say, in the paddock. I have not met everyone, but I'll be biased in saying that."

Norris will be teamed up with Oscar Piastri next season in what will be a very young partnership for McLaren.

Piastri is replacing Ricciardo after a strong junior career, winning the F3 and F2 titles in his first seasons. It will be interesting to see how he fares in his first full F1 season.