“If I can do this against him, I must be in a decent place” – Outperforming Daniel Ricciardo boosted self-confidence, says Lando Norris

Lando Norris has claimed that outperforming Daniel Ricciardo in 2021 helped boost his self-confidence. The driver revealed he went through a period of insecurity before the 2021 season but was reassured of his abilities when he managed to beat Ricciardo.

McLaren's 2021 campaign was mediocre, with the team placing fourth in the constructors' standings. The team suffered towards the end of the season and lost third place to rivals Ferrari late in the season. However, throughout the Woking team's ups and downs, Lando Norris showed incredible consistency and driving maturity, drawing the attention and praise of drivers such as Lewis Hamilton.

The young driver has claimed he has never been a confident driver, but managing to beat an F1 veteran like Daniel Ricciardo boosted his sense of self-esteem throughout the season. He said:

“There’s always that question when you go up against a driver like that of ‘are you going to do well, is he going to beat me in every single qualifying and race of the season?’ Those thoughts go through the head a bit before the year, but when none of that happens you think ‘OK if I can do this against him, he could beat this guy when he was in the same car then I must be in a decent place’. It makes you think of good things."

Lando Norris finished sixth in the drivers' standings - two places ahead of teammate Ricciardo.

Daniel Ricciardo claims he didn't mind losing out to Lando Norris in 2021

On the flip side of the story, Daniel Ricciardo claimed losing out to Lando Norris in 2021 didn't hurt his pride because it wasn't the Briton's debut season in the sport.

Despite having much more experience than Norris, Ricciardo failed to match the level the young Briton's level in 2021. In fact, the Australian had an underwhelming debut season with McLaren, finishing outside the points on multiple occasions. The former Red Bull driver switched from Renault (now Alpine) to McLaren at the start of 2021 with hopes of returning to the top step of the podium.

In a post-season interview, the 32-year-old explained that he didn't mind losing out to Norris in 2021 due to the Briton's experience with McLaren. He said:

"Even the times where he [Norris] has been quicker, he's still taken some things from me. I don't want to say it's 50-50. I've probably taken more from him from a driving point of view. If this was his first year in F1 and he just jumped in and was doing what he's doing, then maybe my pride would be a little hurt. It's been good. My pride is okay but if this was a rookie doing this, then I'd probably be a little more sad."

McLaren will no doubt be hoping that Daniel Ricciardo is able to adapt his driving style to better suit the car in 2022 in order to take the fight to Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull.