McLaren boss Andreas Seidl has ruled out giving Daniel Ricciardo No.1 driver status from next year.
The British team will have the biggest gulf in driver age of any line-up in 2021 with a full decade splitting the Australian and Lando Norris.
Ricciardo will also enjoy a large experience advantage entering his 11th season compared to just the third for Lando, providing this year’s championship takes place.
So while most expect that will equate to the seven-time Formula 1 winner enjoying an advantage over his new teammate, Seidl insists both will be treated as equals.
“As long as I’m the team boss, no one at the start of the season will ever be the number one,” the McLaren chief told Sky Sports.
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“If someone has as long a road to go as we do, you need two drivers equal to each other, as we had in 2019 with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.
“With Lando and Daniel, we have another great duo. Not only sporty but also when it comes to presenting McLaren as a brand.”
That last point is another topic some have pointed to when analysing the new McLaren line-up, with the jokey nature of both drivers making them a dream for the marketing department.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be a good season I think next year!” Norris told Racer. “I look forward to it.
“We’ve had a good few laughs already over the past couple of years and he’s a really nice guy, we get along well.
“We’ve still got this season, we’ve still got to start it yet but [I want] to try and finish off well between Carlos and myself and then we start looking ahead to a kind of a new start and a different challenge for next year.
“But I look forward to having Danny as a teammate; he’s obviously a multiple race winner and of course he’s Australian, so it’s going to be good fun!”