F1 News

'If Ricciardo doesn't do this, Norris will surely show him up this year'

'If Ricciardo doesn't do this, Norris will surely show him up this year'

25-04-2021 13:30 Last update: 15:04
1

GPblog.com

With a sixth and seventh finish this season Daniel Ricciardo has had a reasonably good start to the year with McLaren. However, the significantly better performance of Lando Norris shows that there is still a lot more to be extracted from the papaya coloured car. Former driver and fellow Australian Alan Jones has some advice for the driver.

Asked what his countryman would have to do to stay one step ahead of Lando Norris at McLaren, Jones comes up with a rather critical answer; Ricciardo needs to keep his head up. “I think Daniel should start concentrating a bit more in the cockpit rather than outside. In my opinion, Daniel is becoming a little preoccupied verbally with things going on outside the car rather than in it," Jones said, speaking to Peter Windsor on Youtube.

Although Ricciardo has a relatively good start of his McLaren career, he has been beaten by team mate Norris twice in two races. During the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna the Australian even had to give his place to Norris via team order, because the Brit clocked a significantly faster pace.

Distracted by other things

As an example of Ricciardo being otherwise preoccupied Jones mentions the criticism the driver voiced about the seemingly endless replays of the crash images of Romain Grosjean during the Grand Prix at Sakhir in 2020.

"I think Daniel has really got to pull his socks up a bit. I think Lando is going to show him up this year if he is not careful," Jones concluded. However, the question remains whether Lando Norris, an outspoken figure himself as well as a regular streamer on Twitch, isn't just as distracted as his teammate is argued to be.