https://www.grandprix247.com/2022/08/26 ... ricciardo/
NORRIS HAS NO SYMPATHY FOR AXED TEAMMATE RICCIARDO
Lando Norris said he had no sympathy for McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo after the Australian was ditched by the Zak Brown run team, news which was confirmed this week.
Ricciardo will leave the British-based team at the end of the season, paid off a year before his contract was due to expire because his performances have simply been unacceptable for an experienced driver of such stature and salary.
Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Norris was asked by reporters if he sympathised with Ricciardo’s plight, he replied: “I hate to say it, but I would say no.
“I feel like I’ve had to do a job of adapting and so has he, but I don’t feel like for any driver you would have to have sympathy for them because they have not been able to do as good of a job.”
Ricciardo has scored a mere 19 points, with a highest position of sixth, this season compared to Norris’s 76 from 13 races and a third place at Imola.
Norris said he was just focusing on his own performance, rather than his teammate: “It’s difficult because I never know if I might encounter that in the future with this car or with a different team or whatever, so I never want to contradict myself going into the future, but I’ve just got to focus on my driving.”
Lando: It’s not my job to focus on someone else, and I’m not a driver coach
Norris continued: “I’m not here to help and do those kind of things. I’m here to perform at my absolute best and that’s about it.So it’s difficult when people start to have an expectation that it’s my job to also do these other things and helping and describing this and doing that when that’s not really the case.
“It’s also the case that if I don’t perform well for a few years then it can also be the end of my career, the end of me driving in Formula One, so I’ve got to focus on myself for the majority of it. Every driver has to adapt to the scenarios that they’re in and that’s what I feel like I’ve had to do.
“It’s not a car that I’ve just been able to jump in and feel like I can just flow with and perform exactly like I want.
“At the beginning of the year Daniel was performing better than I was – in the preseason tests and stuff – and it looked like he could just go out naturally and drive the car how he wanted to, and I had to start to learn a new way of driving compared to how I’d been used to driving the car for the last few years.
“I guess I’m surprised because when Daniel came into the team everyone expected more. I’m sure he even, he expected more from himself. When you look at it that way, yeah I’m surprised.
“It’s not me having a dig or anything but when you look at the results… if you want two people to be at the same level then you’re not surprised. It’s hard to know when to call it, I guess, which is what they’ve done,” added Norris. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Additional Reporting Agnes Carlier)
