The Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris bromance was arguably a bit of a letdown, at least initially. After having such a wholesome and thriving relationship with Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris couldn’t emulate the same with the Honey Badger. However, Norris has now explained why.

Both Ricciardo and Norris were expected to lead McLaren to glory. They were also expected to get along really well. However, none of that really came to fruition. Now that Ricciardo is parting ways with McLaren, his teammate Norris explains why their relationship never prospered.

“In terms of seeing F1 drivers be friends or team-mates be friends, I set the bar quite high with that,” Norris said.

“Then people expected Daniel – a very funny guy, and me – similar in many ways, to just be like another level. And it wasn’t.”

He explains why the relationship never prospered. He fits the blame squarely on the media. “A little bit of the competition side of it, Daniel being experienced, me being still a relatively new guy and people just wanted to try and bash our heads together and try and make it look like it really wasn’t anything great.”

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Even though Norris has had the highest of praises for Ricciardo, he has maintained that Sainz is the one he’ll always consider as closest to him. Recently, he made comments about Sainz as a teammate while taking a dig at the Australian.

Daniel Ricciardo snubbed by Lando Norris as he claims Carlos Sainz to be “the best” teammate ever

Arguably, Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris haven’t gotten along that well. However, both drivers have maintained that they have a close relationship on and off the track. But as it would seem, Lando Norris prefers another over his outgoing teammate, Ricciardo.

Recently, the Brit spoke about his relationships with current teammate Ricciardo and former teammate Sainz. The Brit said, “I still get on really well with Carlos, he’s probably one of my best mates within the paddock.”

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Do you think Ricciardo would have done better with McLaren if he had a better relationship with Norris?