Norris denies division of roles at McLaren: 'Literally the opposite'

Lando Norris debunks the suggestion that there is a so-called first and second driver at McLaren. The young Briton argues that he and teammate Daniel Ricciardo are treated completely equally by their team and that neither enjoys preferential treatment.

Norris believes there are too many discussions about whether or not to have a first and second driver in a team. Indeed, according to the McLaren driver, that is not at all how Formula 1 teams approach a race weekend. "I see far too much talk along the lines of 'They only care about this driver and they don't care about the other driver'. That applies not only to us, but to every team," Norris said in conversation with Motorsport-Magazin.com.

He adds that sometimes people think they know what they are talking about, when in reality they have no idea. According to Norris, the opposite is often the reality and an F1 team is not so much about one of the drivers, but about the maximum achievable team result. To achieve that, there are consultations before each race on how the team can work well together.

"Daniel can help me in certain situations and I can sometimes help him. We have that discussion every weekend. It is literally the opposite of a division of roles with first and second drivers. It's about how we can work better as a unit to ultimately get better results," Norris concluded.