Norris to 'discuss' with Ricciardo aggressive French GP move

Lando Norris said that he'll have a word with McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo to discuss what he believed was an overly aggressive move on the part of the Aussie at the start of the French Grand Prix.

Although Norris had qualified ahead of Ricciardo at Paul Ricard, the Briton was passed by his teammate and Fernando Alonso on the opening lap of last Sunday's race.

As he settled in, Norris pulled up alongside the #3 McLaren as the start of the second lap as the pair barreled down to the first corner. But Ricciardo moved to the right, forcing Norris off the track and into the run-off area.

It was a maneuver that the Briton felt was too aggressive.

"It was. I have nothing against Daniel but I think he shouldn’t have done that," Norris said after a race in which the McLaren duo finished respectively fifth and sixth.

"But that’s racing, I probably would have done the same thing with him – but I was on the edge of the kerb.

"If there had been tarmac or something on my right, then I wouldn’t be complaining. But because there were all these vibrations and bumps, I couldn’t take my corner and I had to go straight because he squeezed me out.

"I’m not looking to complain about it but for sure we’ll discuss it."

Having indulged in a longer first stint, Norris put the strategy to good use when he eventually overhauled his teammate – without any drama - twenty laps from the checkered flag.

"I think our strategy played a big part," commented the 21-year-old. "I was struggling with my tyres at the end of the first stint, it was really bad.

"But when I came out [of the pits] I was still very close to the drivers in front of me, because I had a clear run at the end of the first stint.

"They had already used up a lot of tyre wear, so I was able to attack and pass them quite easily. The team did a very good job and I think I did too. And that’s why everything worked out well."

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Looking ahead to F1's upcoming double-header in Spielberg, Norris is looking forward to returning to the scene of his first career podium in F1.

"We had two strong back-to-back results in Austria last season, so I’m hoping we can have a similar two weekends this time out," he said.

"We can’t get ahead of ourselves as a lot of things are different from last year, like the car and tyres.

"We’ll go into these two races with our heads down and take it one step at a time to try and have two results like we managed in France, but also working hard on improving our qualifying performance."

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