"I'm trying to help him as much as I can"- Lando Norris dismisses playing any 'mind games' with Daniel Ricciardo amidst latter's possible McLaren exit

Lando Norris believes his relationship with Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren is a co-operative one involving teamwork. The Briton revealed their rapport as teammates is the opposite of mind-games and involves correlating data and information.

Asked if there were any mind games between him and Ricciardo at a team media session where Sportskeeda was also present, the Briton replied:

“Mind games? In what way? What mind games can I play? No, it's the opposite. I'm trying to help him as much as I can. It's for the benefit of us as a team, to try and beat Alpine at the end of the day.”

The Briton believes he is sharing data and information about the car and working with Ricciardo to help the team perform. Lando Norris refuted any mind games between the two and revealed that he was helping his Australian teammates as much as he could. This is in part of a collective team effort to beat their rivals Alpine.

Further elaborating on his collective effort with Ricciardo, the McLaren driver said:

“He sees everything that I see in terms of data and everything. I'm offering more help than what I normally would, let's say. If we were fighting for a World Championship, I'm saying more things than maybe what I would do! That's what we need for the team, it's what I want for the team at the minute. So yeah, [it's] the opposite of mind games, whatever that is – mind soothing!”

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Lando Norris admits loving McLaren as a team and its work atmosphere

The McLaren driver revealed that he loves the team and the atmosphere at the Woking-based outfit. Not expecting much from this year, Lando Norris feels they’re lacking behind in terms of development in the 2022 season, but they can expect to make progress and better results in the future.

Speaking to Channel 4 at the 2022 Hungarian GP weekend, the McLaren driver said:

“I love it there, always want to be quicker, I always want a quick car, but I knew what I signed up to of course. I knew it was going to take some time, I’m not expecting this year that we’re going to be winning and scoring podiums every weekend. We started and probably still are a little bit behind where we really wanted to be this year, but we’re making some progress and that’s always a good thing to see.

Signed until 2025, the Briton’s long-term agreement with McLaren allows him to expect steady progress from his team. Lando Norris is currently seventh in the championship following fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton, who is sixth in the driver’s championship. However, McLaren are in fifth and battling Alpine for fourth place in the constructor’s standings.