'Respectful rivalry like Ricciardo had with Verstappen would help McLaren in 2021'

Will Buxton is excited about McLaren. The F1 journalist is very pleased with the current composition of the team and states that the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo could have been the last missing piece of the puzzle for 2021.

"To me, it’s very much a case of the right driver at the right team at the right time", Buxton writes about Ricciardo in his column on the official Formula 1 website. The reporter believes that the McLaren team now has all the ingredients to compete for the world championship.

Buxton finds the reorganisation that CEO Zak Brown has achieved after a few disappointing years in the royal class of motor racing impressive. He praises the bringing together of team boss Andreas Seidl, racing director Andreas Stella and designer James Key. With Lando Norris and Ricciardo, the Woking race stable also has an excellent racing duo at its disposal from 2021 onwards. "I just don’t see where the weakness lies."

Comparison with Verstappen

Ricciardo's transfer from Renault to McLaren could well be a good thing for McLaren. "Ricciardo is hungry, and hard working. Crucially, he also plays nicely with others. The Sainz-Norris bromance, which could so easily have exploded with a competitive car, will be replaced with something new. And if Ricciardo’s relationship with Max Verstappen at Red Bull is anything to go by, it could be exactly the kind of respectful, almost brotherly rivalry that helps take a team forward."