Daniel Ricciardo sends Norris offer after he made feelings clear on McLaren exit

Ricciardo reflects on extended deal with AlphaTauri

Daniel Ricciardo has offered to take Lando Norris on a tour of his native Australia after opening up on his relationship with his former McLaren team-mate. The 34-year-old, currently recovering from a broken hand injury, has reflected on how he got along with Norris when they were colleagues at McLaren. And the driver – nicknamed the Honey Badger – still has a fond view of Norris despite their rivalry as team-mates.

Ricciardo saw his two-year spell with the team abruptly ended in December when CEO Zak Brown replaced him with Oscar Piastri for the 2023 season, despite him having a year left on his contract. The Australian received a sizeable pay-off, reported to be in the region of £15 million, before joining Red Bull as a reserve driver.

He was asked to return to the grid to step in for Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri after the Dutchman struggled in his first 10 races. He lasted only three races, however, as Ricciardo then needed to be replaced, temporarily, when he broke his hand in a collision at the Dutch Grand Prix.

With some time away from the track, Ricciardo was asked in an interview to nominate which fellow F1 driver he would most like to take on a road trip around Western Australia. And despite being friendly with a number of drivers on the grid, he chose Norris to be his hypothetical travel buddy.

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“It’s risky saying someone who hasn’t been a team-mate because I guess I don’t know them too well,” he told PerthNow. “So I’d probably have to go with someone that’s been a team-mate… even someone like Lando.

“We were team-mates for two years. I think the first year was very different to the second year. I think the second year we got to know each other a lot better.

“So I think on that, knowing that if we spent a lot of time together in a car and confined space maybe that would blossom even more.”

During their two years working together, Ricciardo was the only driver out of the pair to win a race as he led home a 1-2 finish at Monza in 2021.

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However, Norris’ results propelled him to become the team’s No 1 driver and Ricciardo’s struggles put a strain on their relationship, although Norris insisted how he raced was separate to his friendship with the eight-time race winner.

“Daniel I got on with pretty well. He and I were the perfect competitors: we hated beating each other like we hated getting beat by one another,” Norris told GQ Magazine.

“Away from the track we respected each other massively. I keep it separate; I can be the biggest competitor I need to be on the race track, but I can also respect and be good mates with other people.”

More recently, Norris was asked if he missed Ricciardo at McLaren. And the Briton replied: “I miss Daniel. Of course, I miss him.”

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