F1 star Lando Norris reveals Daniel Ricciardo HELPED McLaren during 2023 season

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F1 star reveals Ricciardo HELPED McLaren during 2023 season

Ricciardo waved goodbye to McLaren at the end of the 2022 F1 season

Matthew Hobkinson Lead Editor

F1 Editor & Journalist

Thursday 28 December 2023 21:57

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Lando Norris has revealed that using Daniel Ricciardo's data from his time at McLaren played a vital role in his Formula 1 success this year.

Ricciardo's time at McLaren came to a premature end in 2022, as the team and driver agreed to call it quits a year earlier than anticipated after a turbulent time on track.

The Honey Badger found himself without a seat for 2023, before Nyck de Vries' mid-season exit would see him parachuted into the now empty AlphaTauri cockpit alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

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This is where Ricciardo will stay for 2024 – despite rumours swirling regarding the possibility of replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull.

Daniel Ricciardo's time at McLaren came to an earlier than anticipated end

The Australian found a way back into the sport with AlphaTauri, driving alongside Yuki Tsunoda (R)

And despite now being rivals with Norris, his former team-mate has admitted that using Ricciardo's old data was helpful on his way to a P6 finish in the drivers' championship.

Norris: Ricciardo data helped 2023 season

“I’m not going to say the secrets of it or whatever, just a lot of simulator is probably one of the biggest things,” he said (via Motorsport.com).

“But also time on looking into the data against me and Daniel [Ricciardo, 2021-2022], me and Oscar [Piastri, 2023-onwards], even me and Carlos [Sainz, 2019-2020].

Ricciardo (L) and Norris (R) where team-mates at McLaren for two seasons

“We went back that far to kind of understand what I was doing good and bad then, what he was doing good and bad then, and same for Daniel and same for Oscar now. Just work, basically.”

Norris will be hoping that McLaren's 2024 challenger will be even more competitive than the MCL60, a car that saw the Briton finish just one point behind fourth-placed Fernando Alonso in the drivers' championship.