Norris insists that this year’s machine wasn’t for him initially either and that he had to change the way he drives to play at a higher level.
He said he had tried to help Ricciardo by sharing information, but stressed it was not his responsibility in the end to help his team-mates keep up.
Asked if he had any sympathy for Ricciardo’s situation given how tricky the MCL36 was, driving Norris made his position clear.
“I hate to say that, but I would say no,” he said. “People might hate me for saying that.
” It’s difficult because I never know if I’ll be in this situation in the future, whether it’s with this car or a different team, or whatever.
“So I never want to contradict myself into the future. I just need to focus on my driving and my job. It’s not my job to focus on other people.
“I’m not a driving instructor, I’m not here to help with that kind of thing. I’m here to perform my absolute best, that’s all.
” So it’s hard, When people started expecting my work to also start doing these other things and helping and describing this and doing that, when it wasn’t.
“And that’s also true, if I don’t perform well for a few years, it could also be the end of my career, the end of my driving and F1.
” So I You have to focus on yourself most of the time. Every driver has to adapt to the situation they are in, and I feel like I have to. ”
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36
Photo by Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Norris stresses that he has yet to find the MCL36 easy to drive.
“It’s not a car I’ve just been able to jump into and It feels like I’m just going with the flow and a car that performs exactly the way I want,” he said.
“At the beginning of the year, Daniel was better than me in pre-season testing and otherwise. And it looks like he can go out naturally and drive the car as he pleases.
“I’m just starting to learn a new way to drive a car compared to the way I’m used to driving my car for the past three years. So I feel like I’ll have to do some adaptation work, and so does he.
“But I don’t think you have to feel or have sympathy for any of the drivers on the grid because they didn’t do their job well. ”
