How Slow is Daniel Ricciardo Compared to McLaren F1 Teammate Lando Norris During Qualifying Sessions in 2021?

When McLaren announced the Daniel Ricciardo signing ahead of this season, there were huge waves of expectation residing on the Australian. The likelihood of Ricciardo outpacing his young British teammate, Lando Norris, was soaring high.

However, much to everyone’s surprise, the reality hardly resembled the predictions. Norris has been the best of the two, and one could also confidently reckon that the battle so far has been one-sided. Of course, Norris has consistently held the upper hand during the main events.

But, the biggest pace difference has occurred during qualifying sessions. The latest qualifying outing in Austria witnessed Norris out-pace Ricciardo by almost a second. So, how far has the gap been on average between the two on Saturday afternoons?

Well, the numbers do seem quite significant, considering the tightly packed mid-field.

How far is Daniel Ricciardo slower than Lando Norris?

Writing to F1, Lawrence Barretto, claimed that, on average, Norris has been faster than his teammate by 0.281 seconds in qualifying sessions.

The stats, too, bolster this claim. Out of the 10 race weekends, Norris has raced through to Q3 on all of them. Meanwhile, there’s Ricciardo, who’s exited Q1 once and Q2 four times. Hence, 50% of the race weekends this season have witnessed the Honey Badger failing to make it into Q3.

Formula One F1 – Austrian Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria – July 4, 2021 McLaren’s Lando Norris celebrates after finishing third REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

Also, looking at the teammate battle, Ricciardo did start his campaign with McLaren on a strong note. He out-qualified Norris during the initial two race weekends, at Bahrain and Imola.

However, that’s when everything started going downhill for Ricciardo. Since Portuguese GP, Norris has beaten Ricciardo 7 out of 8 times in qualifying.

Read More: McLaren: That’s One of the Reasons Why Lando Norris Is So Popular

Is Ricciardo poor during the main race as well?

Stats reveal that Ricciardo has been quite impressive on Sundays. In fact, one can claim that the main race is when Ricciardo has often shown glimpses of his true speed. How you might ask?

The Bahrain Grand Prix is the only race that has witnessed Ricciardo finish behind his starting position. The Australian saw the chequered flag in P7 after starting the race from P6. Also, Riccardo missed out on Q2 once this season.

Formula One F1 – British Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Britain – July 15, 2021 McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo arrives ahead of the British Grand Prix REUTERS/Andrew Couldridge

However, the McLaren driver drove from P16 to an incredible P9 in the race. Moreover, only twice has Ricciardo failed to finish in the top 10, and the reason is entirely because of his qualifying performances.

So, can the Honey Badger up his game on Saturdays to deliver much stronger finishes on the main events over the rest of this season? Only time will tell.

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