Lando Norris says he is “curious” about how Daniel Ricciardo goes about his craft ahead of their first season together at McLaren.

With Ricciardo’s move from Renault to McLaren, Norris can now count a seven-time grand prix winner as his team-mate, something which excites the 21-year-old.

“I’d say [I am excited about] teaming up with Daniel,” said the one-time podium finisher in a McLaren F1 Team Q&A.

“Not because he’s good fun to be around, but because I like to work out the approach of my team-mates.

“Daniel has a lot of experience: he’s raced with big teams, scored plenty of podiums and knows how to win grands prix.

“I’m curious to see how he drives a car and what his approach is.”

With only limited technical changes allowed relative to 2020, McLaren is in the unique position of having to reshape the back of its car to accommodate Mercedes power units instead of Renaults.

The Woking team’s production director, Piers Thynne, considers the MCL35M “essentially … a new car”, and Norris is keen to get a feel for it in the real world.

“Unsurprisingly, I’m very eager to get back behind the wheel of an F1 car,” he remarked.

“I’ve driven the MCL35M in the simulator, but I can’t give you any clues about what it’s like to drive.

“It feels like ages since the last race in Abu Dhabi; I can’t wait to go racing again and push one of the fastest cars on the planet to the limit.”

McLaren will conduct its season launch on the morning of Tuesday, February 16 (AEDT), while pre-season testing will be held at Bahrain next month.