McLaren CEO Zak Brown says Lando Norris currently has the edgeover struggling teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Despite scoring McLaren's first win in over eight years at lastyear's Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo was generally overshadowed by Norris in2021, and currently has just 11 points to his teammate's 38 so far in 2022. The Australian finished a disappointing 12th in lastweekend's Spanish Grand Prix, and seemed unable to get the best out of his caras he tried several different tyre strategies. By contrast, Norris finished eighth despite suffering with tonsilitis,and Brown acknowledged that Ricciardo was not comparing well to his teammate. "Lando definitely has an edge," Brown told Sky Sports . "We obviously would like to see Daniel much closer to Lando andhave a good inter-team battle. "Daniel is just not comfortable yet with the car. We are trying everything we can; again it was a disappointingweekend."
Riccardo falling short of expectations
Brown added that, since joining McLaren from Renault in 2021, Ricciardo had not achieved what he or the team had expected. "Short of Monza and a few races, [the partnership] has not methis or our expectations of what we were expecting," said Brown. "I think all you can do is keep working hard as a team, keepcommunications going, keep pushing and hope that whatever is not clicking atthe moment, clicks shortly."
Brown calls Norris "one of the best in the world"
Brown acknowledged that Ricciardo's struggles stood in contrastto the achievements and ability of Norris, who recently extended his contractwith the Woking-based squad until at least 2025. "I think it also points to how good Lando is," he said. "Whenyou look at the [points difference] between Charles [Leclerc] and Carlos [Sainzat Ferrari], between Max [Verstappen] and Sergio [Perez at Red Bull], there aregaps between teammates. "I think Lando is one of the best drivers in the world at themoment, and I think it is also kind of a compliment to how good Lando is whenyou see the gap that exists."
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