Daniel Ricciardo or Lando Norris? Who is the slower of the two McLaren drivers?

Daniel Ricciardo or Lando Norris? Who is the slower of the two McLaren drivers?

Daniel Ricciardo(on the left) and Lando Norris(on the right)

The McLaren duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris surely has been one to watch out for since their partnership in 2021. British driver Lando Norris has been associated with Mclaren since 2019. On his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, he qualified eighth and finished twelfth. He earned his first Formula One points by having finished sixth in the Bahrain Grand Prix the following race.

Daniel Ricciardo joined the Woking-based racing team in 2021 as a replacement for Carlos Sainz who had signed a multi-year deal with Italian-based racing team Ferrari. In his debut race for McLaren, Ricciardo qualified at 6th and finished the race at P7 despite having to face some serious hitches on the way.

However when it comes to pace at McLaren, Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo is the slower one of the two drivers as he fails to catch up with the insane pace that young Norris brings on to the field. Norris has also suited better to McLaren’s MCL36 given the fact that Ricciardo had to miss a part of the pre-season testing at Bahrain due to being down with Covid-19. Ricciardo has also fared poorly in the first two GPS of the 2022 season as compared to Norris.

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Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris head-to head comparison in 2021

Grand Prix Lando Norris’ Position Daniel Ricciardo’s Position
Bahrain P4 P7
Imola P3 P6
Portugal P5 P9
Spain P8 P6
Monaco P3 P12
Baku P5 P9
France P5 P6
Styria P5 P13
Austria P3 P7
Great Britain P4 P5
Hungary DNF P11
Belgium P14 P4
Netherlands P10 P11
Italy P2 P1
Russia P7 P4
Turkey P7 P13
USA P8 P5
Mexico P10 P12
Brazil P10 DNF
Qatar P9 P12
Saudi Arabia P10 P5
Abu Dhabi P7 P12

How have Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris fared in the first two GPs of the 2022 season?

Daniel Ricciardo(on the left) and Lando Norris in the MCL36(on the right)

The McLaren duo of Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo and British driver Lando Norris had a poor start to the 2022 season of Formula One with visible porpoising issues just like Mercedes. Their contemporaries seem to be dealing with the porpoising issues much better than the Woking-based racing team and the Brackley-based racing team.

Daniel Ricciardo finished at P14 for the race at the Bahrain International Circuit followed by teammate Lando Norris at P15. Their MCL36s seemed to get overshadowed by the other cars on the grid. Daniel Ricciardo had started the race at P18 with teammate Norris starting the race at P13, and dropping two places by the end of the race.

Ricciardo had a disastrous race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit last weekend with the Australian driver having to retire his MCL36 on Lap 37 as his car came to a complete stop near the entry to pit lane after suffering engine troubles. Norris on the other hand had a P7 finish at the fastest circuit in the world after starting the race from P14. Those points gained were extremely crucial for McLaren in the opening races of the season.

Also Read: Daniel Ricciardo goes into depth of the F1 campaign for change in Saudi Arabia