When McLaren announced the signing of Daniel Ricciardo ahead of this season, the Australian’s expectations were huge. The likelihood that Ricciardo would leave his young British team-mate Lando Norris behind had skyrocketed.
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To everyone’s surprise, however, the reality hardly matched the predictions. Norris was the best of the two, and it’s safe to assume that the fight so far has been one-sided. Of course, the Brit always had the upper hand at the main events.
But the biggest change in tempo occurred during qualifying. In the last qualifying race in Austria, Norris Ricciardo left him almost a second behind. What is the average gap between the two on Saturday afternoon?
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Well, given the tight midfield, the numbers seem impressive.
How far is Daniel Ricciardo slower than Lando Norris?
In a letter to F1, Lawrence Barretto claimed that Norris was on average 0.281 seconds faster than his teammate in qualifying.
Statistics also support this claim. While Norris drove into Q3 on all 10 race weekends, Ricciardo left Q1 once and Q2 four times. As a result, the Honey Badger did not make it into Q3 on 50% of the race weekends this season.
Formula 1 F1 – Austrian Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria – July 4th, 2021 McLaren’s Lando Norris celebrates his third place REUTERS / Leonhard Foeger
Also with a view to the battle for teammates, Ricciardo started his campaign with McLaren on a strong note. He qualified Norris during the first two race weekends in Bahrain and Imola.
But from then on it went downhill for Ricciardo. Since the Portuguese GP, Norris has beaten Ricciardo seven out of eight times in qualifying.
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Is Ricciardo poor even during the main race?
Statistics show that Ricciardo was pretty impressive on Sundays. In fact, it can be said that Ricciardo often showed his true speed in the main race.
How could you ask?
The Bahrain Grand Prix is the only race in which Ricciardo ended up behind his starting place. The Australian saw the checkered flag at P7 after starting the race from P6.
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Formula 1 F1 – Great Britain Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Great Britain – July 15, 2021 McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo arrives ahead of the Great Britain Grand Prix at REUTERS / Andrew Couldridge
There was one case where Danny didn’t get into Q2; However, the McLaren driver went from P16 to an incredible P9 in the race. In addition, Ricciardo only failed to make it into the top 10 twice, and that’s entirely because of his qualifying performance.
So can the honey badger improve their game on Saturdays to get much stronger results in the main events for the remainder of this season? Only time can tell.
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View history: When F1 drivers had a lot of fun with Hamilton, Vettel & Ricciardo
The post How slow is Daniel Ricciardo compared to McLaren F1 teammate Lando Norris during the qualifying sessions in 2021? first appeared on monter-une-startup.
