Lando Norris has spent the last two years at McLaren cementing his place as the Woking-based team’s number one, having been very much on an equal status to Carlos Sainz in his first two years in Formula 1.
Norris’ partnership with Daniel Ricciardo was predicted to be one of learning for the 23-year-old, given that the Australian is a proven race winner.
The duo’s spell as team-mates at McLaren has been anything but a period of learning for Norris, who has led the team heroically since 2021.
Ricciardo has seemingly been the one learning from Norris, with the 33-year-old having spent the last two seasons in the British driver’s shadow.
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The only race where Ricciardo showed his true form was the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, where the Honey Badger famously claimed McLaren’s first win since 2012.
Other than that, the duo’s partnership on-track has been disappointing, with the team’s bosses likely hoping that Oscar Piastri will fare much better than his fellow Aussie.
Off the circuit, though, Norris and Ricciardo have been the stars of the show and have built what appears to be a brilliant friendship.
Norris has proven to have an ability to become great friends with whoever he is partnered with, based on the fact that Norris and Sainz also had a hilarious relationship.
The Quadrant founder will hopefully remain friends with Ricciardo going into the future, even if the pair do see less of each other.
From a marketing side of things, the duo have been a piece of magic for McLaren, with the two being incredibly comical together.
Opening up on his time with Ricciardo, though, Norris admitted that he’ll “miss” the fan favourite next season, especially with the drivers having “taken up photography together”.
“I think it’s something that, with all of my teammates, I’ve always grown to have good relationships with them,” Norris told reporters.
“[I] became good friends with them, I think, on and also off the track. [I’ve] always built a good amount of respect, I believe, between all the drivers that I’ve been with.
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“Maybe Daniel will go on to say different things in the future!
“Of course, you get to know each other very well, and it’s the guy I worked so closely with, and have done for the past few years.
“So I guess you build a bit of a connection, that you’ll miss the guy because we have become, I think, good friends. We’ve taken up photography together, which is weird!”