McLaren principal Andreas Seidl has confirmed that seven-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo won’t be their No.1 driver from 2021.
Ricciardo has signed with the Woking outfit, and he will leave Renault at the end of the year to take the McLaren seat to be vacated by Carlos Sainz who is heading to Ferrari.
The Aussie will enjoy a vast experience advantage over Lando Norris who will become his team-mate in 2021, but that doesn’t mean Ricciardo is going to be treated as a No.1 driver.
Speaking to Sky F1, Seidl said: “As long as I’m the team boss, no one at the start of the season will ever be the number one.
“If someone has as long a road to go as we do, you need two drivers equal to each other, as we had in 2019 with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.
“With Lando and Daniel we have another great duo. Not only sporty but also when it comes to presenting McLaren as a brand.”
Ricciardo and Norris are likely to be one of if not the most entertaining partnerships on the grid next season.
They’re perhaps best known for sending the driver press conference ahead of the 2019 British Grand Prix into meltdown with ‘pubegate’.
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