28/02/2023
NEWS STORY
Lando Norris admits that the difference between his most recent teammates is stark.
If you believe Drive to Survive (does anyone?), the relationship between Lando Norris and his first teammate, Carlos Sainz, was fractious, the pair bitter rivals - even though both insist that nothing could be further from the truth.
Then along came F1's court jester, Daniel Ricciardo, who, despite giving the Woking team its first win in eight seasons didn't live up to expectations and was subsequently dropped.
Now, Norris is partnered by another youngster with an impressive record, and one whom the Woking outfit fought bitterly to secure.
Following their first days working together, Norris admits that the difference between Ricciardo and his successor is stark.
"He's quiet," said the Briton. "He's a little bit the opposite of Daniel but, of course, this is his first year in Formula 1.
"There's a lot of pressure," he added. "It's a big moment for him. But I'm sure he is looking forward to it.
"He's been doing a good job for the whole team, getting some good laps in and giving good feedback. We've been getting on well so far, so looking forward to it."
Of course, racing drivers being the most competitive people on the planet, that may change, with or without the help of DTS, but following a less than impressive test, which saw the Woking teams complete the least laps of all ten teams, Norris admits that for now the pair's focus is on improving the MCL60.
"There are so many things which we've been struggling with," he admitted. "I guess we've been exploring, trying a lot of different things with setups.
"The car looks fairly similar but there are quite a few different things on the car," he added. "Fundamentally, the car handles in a reasonably similar way to last year, which is, I guess, good in many ways, but also it's still evident where we have to focus."