When Daniel Ricciardo reached Lando Norris at McLaren in 2021, multiple voices within the paddock claimed the Woking duo were the strongest in Formula 1. Or, at least, the best matched, as they combined experience and talent. History, on the other hand, said something else. Ricciardo has never confirmed himself in McLaren and the Woking team even preferred to pay him a substantial severance pay in order to drive him away and secure Oscar Piastri’s performances starting in 2023. Some supporters of ‘Honey Badger they believe the Australian was not favored by the car at all. Norris thinks differently: according to him, both the 2021 and the 2022 cars suited Ricciardo’s qualities more than his.
“Daniel drives very well, he’s good, but I don’t need to say that, I think everyone knows what he’s capable of. He has won exciting races in beautiful places. It was said that it was not suitable for the car, and everyone thinks I am, or that the MCL36 is made around me: there could be nothing more false. Not that I hate driving the car now, but it is very unsuitable for my driving style. In fact, I would say that at the beginning of the season it suited Daniel a lot more than me. It is an aspect that I struggled a lot with at the beginning of the season and which I now deal with much better, I have adapted. Daniel and I drive differently and therefore what we ask of the car is very different. But it is not true that it is more suitable for me that to him, nor adapt the car to me and not to Daniel“, The Englishman told the F1 podcast Beyond the Grid. “It is a long way from the car I would like in an ideal world. If I wanted to make the best lap possible and they gave me the car to do it, it is certainly not the one I have now. I feel like I’m driving a car quite similar, in terms of features, to that of my first year in Formula 1. It has changed in small respects, but I wouldn’t say it’s more suitable for me now than it was then.“.
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