McLaren boss disappointed with gap between Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo has yet to meet ‘expectations’ at McLaren, according to team boss Zak Brown

Lando Norris passed team-mate Daniel Ricciardo at the Spanish Grand Prix (Getty Images)

McLaren boss Zak Brown has expressed disappointment at the clear “gap” between drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australian yet to meet the “expectations” of his move to the team.

Ricciardo finished 12th at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday and has only scored one top-ten result out of six races in Formula One this season.

The experienced Ricciardo has been outperformed by his younger team-mate Norris, who battled to finish eighth in Barcelona despite struggling with tonsillitis.

Norris is seventh in the drivers standings and is the leading points-scorer outside of Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, while Ricciardo is only 12th in the overall leaderboard.

McLaren had high hopes for the 2022 season but have seen rivals Ferrari pull away at the front of the grid following the overhaul in race regulations, but Brown is also frustrated that Ricciardo has been unable to deliver points for the team.

"Lando definitely has an edge. We obviously would like to see Daniel much closer to Lando and have a good inter-team battle,” Brown told Sky Sports. “Daniel is just not comfortable yet with the car.

“We are trying everything we can, again it was a disappointing weekend. Short of Monza and a few races, it has not met his or our expectations of what we were expecting.

"I think all you can do is keep working hard as a team, keep communications going, keep pushing and hope that whatever is not clicking at the moment, clicks shortly.

"It also points to how good Lando is when you look at the gap between Charles [Leclerc] and Carlos [Sainz], the gap between Max [Verstappen] and Sergio [Perez], there are gaps between teammates and I think Lando is one of the best drivers in the world at the moment.

"It is also a compliment to how good Lando is when you see the gap that exists."