Daniel Ricciardo insists his focus at McLaren will be all “business” rather than a “comedy show” with Lando Norris.
Both drivers are known for their banter and laid back personalities, so the off-track entertainment between the pair is almost as anticipated as how they’ll perform together on it.
However, Ricciardo, who joins from Renault, is adamant he is going to McLaren to continue their recent improvement as the team targets a return to the front of the Formula 1 grid.
“It’s something I want to reiterate to everyone watching, and every fan of McLaren in particular,” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s not going to be a comedy show. I’m going there for business, I’m going there to improve the car.
“My personality won’t change so I think I do enjoy doing what I do… but I’m certainly not going there to be this meme power couple or whatever it’s described as these days!”
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Norris too knows he faces a tough task in taking on one of the standout performers from last season, when Ricciardo scored two podiums en route to fifth in the Drivers’ Championship.
But he remains confident he’ll give the Australian a run for his money.
“It’s a little bit into the unknown because I’ve only had one teammate in Formula 1, so it’s hard to know what to expect from somebody different,” the Briton said via The Race.
“But I rate Carlos [Sainz] extremely highly, as do Ferrari. I don’t feel like Daniel is going to do something incredible [in comparison to him].
“I’ve seen Carlos do many things better than Daniel, but there’s also a lot of things that Daniel probably does better than Carlos.
“He’s a different driver, but he’s not going to be tenths faster than Carlos. Maybe there’s better consistency or better feedback, he’s able to do a better job in qualifying or he’s better at tyre saving, there’s these small things that he can do slightly better in.
“A lot of it is just going to be from his [Ricciardo] experience of being with a lot of different teams in Formula 1 and at a Red Bull team which has won races lately.
“I can’t wait for the opportunity to learn from someone like that, rather than feel worried or anything like that.”
With Ricciardo being the new boy at McLaren, however, Norris, who now enters his third F1 season with the team, hopes to use his established status to become more of a team leader.
“There were times throughout last year – more towards the middle and latter part – when I kind of took on that role,” he told GPFans.
“There were a lot more debriefs and things that were led by myself, rather than Carlos, taking the car more in the direction I wanted it to be improved and thinking ahead to the future.
“Obviously, there were a lot of meetings that didn’t include Carlos. When it came to ’21 stuff and ’22, we couldn’t involve him because he was moving to another team.
“So I think that will happen a little more this year, leading the debriefs a little bit more and bringing the ideas and my experience of working with McLaren to the table.”
