Norris: 'No no.1 or 2 at McLaren' - but will that change with Piastri?
Norris has comprehensively out-performed outgoing teammate Daniel Ricciardo over the past 18 months, leading some to suggest that the Briton is McLaren’s number one driver, with Ricciardo being subjected to a number two role.
But speaking to the media ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, Norris said such talk about number one and number two drivers is overplayed.
“I can see way too much of ‘they only look after this driver, they don’t care about the other driver’, not just for us, but for every team,” said Norris.
“I like it when they think they know what they are talking about, but they actually have no idea and it’s sometimes the complete opposite.
“Especially from my point of view, every single weekend before the race we have a little meeting going through how we can work well as a team and how we don’t work as a number one and a number two, and ways of me helping Daniel in certain scenarios and Daniel helping me in certain scenarios.
“We have this discussion every single weekend. But literally the opposite way of having a one and a two. It’s more how can we have a better result as one to have a better result at the end of the day.
“Maybe other teams work differently, but from our side, not at all. There’s no priority. I’ll have one part one weekend, Daniel will have priority on that part the next weekend. It’s completely fair.”
Norris will have a rookie teammate next season, with McLaren signing the highly-rated Oscar Piastri as Ricciardo’s replacement.
So will Norris’ job change when the 2021 F2 champion arrives and replaces their high-earner?
"I would say it stays the same as what I’m doing now,” he explained. “The outline of my job is to drive my car as quickly as possible, it’s not to do anything else.
“Of course when you have a new guy coming in, if you want to compete against other teams, I’m always willing to help and express my opinion and my feelings.
“If that helps another driver or not, that’s all I can really do.”
