McLaren will have one of the most exciting driver line-ups on the F1 grid next year, with Daniel Ricciardo partnering Lando Norris at the Woking-based team.
Speaking ahead of Ricciardo’s move to McLaren, the team’s racing director, Andrea Stella, noted that Norris and Carlos Sainz, who has now joined Ferrari, had a great working relationship which helped McLaren develop its car.
READ: Mercedes Want Lewis Hamilton To Have A Weak Team-Mate So He Can Dominate – Ex-F1 Driver
And, although he stressed that Ricciardo’s relationship with Norris will potentially be different, he hopes that both drivers are open and don’t withhold information from one another.
“The level of collaboration between the two of them has been incredibly high. It’s one of the reasons they are so evenly matched on track,” Stella said.
“When there is an open and transparent dialogue between team-mates, it elevates their performance because they can crosscheck with each other and quickly identify the weak points of the car or find the best approach to a corner.
“This has been possible due to the personal qualities of Carlos and Lando, and, I hope, the environment we have built within the team which encourages openness and trust.
“Daniel is not Carlos and his relationship with Lando will be different.
“It means the drivers feel comfortable opening their box of secrets, rather than keeping that box closed so as not to give away any advantage to their team-mate,” he added.
Meanwhile, McLaren’s technical director, James Key, said this culture helped them address the weaknesses of their car and allowed them to make their overall package more competitive:
“It’s allowed us to pin down the real issues and weaknesses with the car.
“This is important because there’s always the risk of falling into a bit of a trap when you have drivers with differing opinions, or their opinions change quite drastically due to the particular challenges of race weekend, such as track characteristics or tyre degradation.
“We’ve not fallen into that trap,” Key added.
READ: ‘We Have An Option’: Red Bull Reveal Length Of Sergio Perez’s Contract