“I hate that people think that” – Lando Norris frustrated by allegations of him hating Daniel Ricciardo

Lando Norris has admitted that he hated the fictitious rivalry created by the media between him and Daniel Ricciardo.

The youngster and Ricciardo were teammates at McLaren, where the Australian was expected to be the lead driver within the team. However, while Ricciardo could never find his feet within the team, Norris got to grips with the car and did much better than his seasoned teammate.

Looking back at the partnership, Norris told the Mirror that he hated the fictitious war that has been created between him and Ricciardo.

“It just frustrates me when I see people trying to make it look like we hate each other or that we don’t like each other, or have fun or whatever. I hate that people think that because there’s not been one case where that’s been the truth,” he said.

The 23-year-old felt that some of his honest comments about the situation Ricciardo found himself in at McLaren were twisted for the sake of catchy headlines.

“Being honest, because of some certain comments that I’ve said, when it’s regarding what it’s been like some of the things Daniel’s struggled with this car, and I’ve just been honest and said that it’s not my job to help him. Those comments, people just for some reason take it as I don’t like him, that I’m not friends with him and we don’t get along. Then they just see like a headline and just want to believe everything like that. I don’t know why else they would believe it,” he expressed.

“I want to be like what Daniel is good at” – Lando Norris

Lando Norris also revealed some of Daniel Ricciardo’s traits that impressed him the most, with one of them being his ability to completely change his demeanor depending on whether he’s racing or when he’s off track.

“I want to be like what Daniel is good at, knowing what the person he can be on a racetrack and the person he can be away from a race track and the respect he can have on either side of that platform. I think that’s what he’s very good at – when he puts his helmet on, he becomes this guy. And when it’s off, he’s the fun guy,” he said.

Lando Norris will team up with Oscar Piastri for 2023 and this time around it will be the British driver that would be expected to lead the team.