Lando Norris has opened up on his relationship with Daniel Ricciardo after admitting he has "no sympathy" for his struggling McLaren team-mate.
Ricciardo has been with the team for a year and a half but has failed to find any sort of consistency in that time. And now the team hierarchy has had enough, announcing they would be letting the driver leave a year early in the hope of replacing him with Oscar Piastri.
Plenty of people feel sorry for the way the affable Aussie has been treated, but his team-mate is not one of them. Asked specifically if he has sympathy for Ricciardo, Norris replied: "I hate to say it, but I would say no – people will probably hate me for saying it.
"And it's difficult because I never know if I might encounter that in the future with this car or a different team, or whatever, so I never want to contradict myself going into the future. I've just got to focus on my driving and my job. It's not my job to focus on someone else and I'm not a driver coach. I'm not here to help and do those kinds of things."
Such a cut-throat take on the situation has led some to suggest the relationship between the two popular racers might not be positive. But Norris has rubbished that thinking, even if he is not as close to his current team-mate as he had been with predecessor Carlos Sainz.
"I want to be friends with as many people as possible and it's similar to how I am now with Daniel," he told reporters in the Netherlands. "We get on really well. For some reason, people think otherwise, but it's completely untrue.
"We have a lot of fun together, we spend a lot of time together but it's just that things are a bit different because he's a bit older and is into different things.
"He's not into playing golf and so on, so you don't see it as much on social media or whatever. Our friendship and our respect for each other are good and I'm pretty sure that will continue into the future."
Norris is yet to learn the identity of his new team-mate, but it is expected that McLaren will bring in Piastri if allowed. Both they and Alpine believe they have a valid contract for the F2 champion to race for them in 2023, and the case is now with the Contract Recognition Board to decide which deal takes precedence.
