(Motorsport-Total.com) – Lando Norris will get a new teammate at McLaren in 2021. Daniel Ricciardo comes from Renault and replaces Carlos Sainz, who joined McLaren in 2019 with the then rookie Norris. In conversation with ‘Motorsport-Total.com’, the Brit reveals that he hadn’t expected Sainz to leave for Ferrari.
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Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo already get on brilliantly zoom
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“It was a bit of a shock because nobody expected Seb to do it and not extend it to Ferrari,” said Norris. Sebastian Vettel had triggered the switch route with his farewell to Ferrari. After it became known that Vettel would leave Scuderia in late 2020, “you knew something was going to happen,” reports Norris.
Nobody expected that Vettel would not renew his contract. “Any surprise would happen and Carlos seized the opportunity and grabbed the space,” said Norris, who emphasizes that he is happy for his team-mate. The move from Ricciardo to McLaren, however, was “no surprise” afterwards.
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“It wasn’t such a big surprise that Daniel came to McLaren. I think the bigger surprise was that Carlos McLaren left and went to Ferrari and Vettel left Ferrari,” said Norris, adding: “I knew McLaren already had him before the 2019 season. I knew he was on the radar. “
The Woking team was interested in Ricciardo two years ago, but the Australian decided to go with Renault. “After McLaren did better than Renault last year, he may have changed his mind,” muses Norris. McLaren ended the 2019 season in fourth place, Renault finished fifth.
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Norris is already looking forward to his new teammate. “He has the experience of having already won races. Carlos does not, even if he is an extremely good driver,” he recalls. With Red Bull, Ricciardo was on the top step of the stairs seven times between 2014 and 2018.
Norris is certain that he can learn a lot from the experienced Australian, who will be entering his tenth Formula 1 season in 2020. That also applies to the entire McLaren team. “He can also offer the team a lot and help the team improve,” said Norris, who recalls Ricciardo’s five years with the top Red Bull team.
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