Brown: Ricciardo and Norris will make most exciting F1 pair in 2021
- Published on 28 Jun 2020 10:05
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- By: Harry Mattocks
McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes that the team's 2021 pairing of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo will be the 'most exciting' on the grid.
Back in May, it was announced that Ricciardo will switch to McLaren as a replacement for the Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz. McLaren came close to signing Ricciardo for the 2019 season, but the Honey Badger decided that Renault was the more promising option.
Ricciardo and Norris both have big personalities and fanbases, with the Australian known as the joker of the paddock and Norris the 'meme lord' of Formula 1. The pair already have a good relationship after their off-track antics in 2019, with this line-up bound to be a fan favourite next season.
Brown is happy to have signed Ricciardo, but also has doubts that the team will be able to provide a car capable of winning straight away. He had this to say on the F1 Nation podcast: “Daniel's a driver that we wanted a couple of years ago – we've been on record that we're Daniel Ricciardo fans."
“He obviously chose to go to Renault last time around, but we got our man this time. He's a seven-time Grand Prix winner."
“I think he's capable of winning the world championship in the right car immediately. I don't think we'll give him a championship car, being realistic, in '21, but hopefully, we'll give him something he can demonstrate his talent in.
“He's very exciting on the track, he's very exciting off the track and I think the combination of Daniel and Lando, I can't think of a more exciting combination of drivers. I like where they're at in their careers and their age, so I think it's going to be very exciting.”
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Replies (2)
Login to replySnooky
Posts: 121
Mclaren promos and interviews will at The least be funnier now even without the Sainz Norris bromance. On track it’s a great combination, hopefully the car will be good enough again for them to show it
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Too early to say for defs, but they are no doubt one of them I look forward to.
As for this year, the ones I look forward to the most probably are Vettel vs Leclerc (yes we saw them last year, but I hope they'll be allowed to battle it out), Albon vs Verstappen (remember, this time Albon will have been with the car from the start instead of jumping in midseason) and Norris vs Sainz.
As for the rest, I kinda look forward to seeing Perez and Russell steamroll their partners. Perez in particular might be especially fun because he will go out of his way to praise Stroll's talent and promise, all the while dismantling the poor lad bone by bone.