(Motorsport-Total.com) – Liam Lawson, the Racing Bulls officially confirmed after the Singapore Grand Prix, will replace Daniel Ricciardo in the team’s second cockpit for the remainder of the 2024 Formula 1 season. However, it is not set in stone that the 22-year-old New Zealander will also have a regular place in 2025.
Liam Lawson had known for weeks that he would be driving from Austin Zoom
“I now have until the end of the season,” confirms Lawson in one Interview with the New Zealand Herald. “I’ll find out more about what it looks like as the season progresses. But for now, yes, it’s these six races.”
How he can earn the Racing Bulls place for 2025 is clear: “I have to perform. I have to prove my worth in Formula 1 and do a similar job to last year. Because that means I have this new one So I just have to do enough to stay in this cockpit next year.”
In 2023, Lawson completed five race weekends as a replacement for Ricciardo, who injured his hand in Zandvoort. Lawson finished all five Grands Prix, finishing 13th at Zandvoort, 11th at Monza, 9th at Singapore, 11th at Suzuka and 17th at Doha.
Lawson lost the qualifying duel against Yuki Tsunoda 2:4. In the races, however, his record was 4:2 (including the Sprint Shootout and the Sprint in Doha). And: He scored two highly acclaimed points in Singapore in five joint appearances. Tsunoda, on the other hand, not a single one.
Marko: Lawson has to perform now
But the six upcoming Formula 1 appearances are crucial for Lawson’s future in the Red Bull squad, because: “We have a good number of young drivers,” explains Helmut Marko. “That’s Hadjar, that’s Lawson, that’s also Iwasa – without making any judgments about this order.”
In one Interview on YouTube channel Formel1.de says the Red Bull motorsport consultant: “We have to look into the future, and we also want to have comparisons: Where does Lawson stand in comparison to Yuki? In order to then know for the future: What does the driver pairing look like in our two teams ?”
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In other words: If Lawson doesn’t perform as hoped in 2024, Isack Hadjar, for example, could get his chance in Formula 1 in 2025. The Frenchman, who is only 20 years old, is currently in second place in the Formula 2 championship, just four and a half points behind McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto.
Therefore, Marko von Lawson now wants to see “objective results in the six races” before the decision for 2025 is made. Lawson’s first appearance in Austin “won’t be relevant because he has an engine set back. Ten places in the sprint race, that doesn’t make life any easier,” says the Austrian.
Lawson had known about the driver swap for a long time
Incidentally, Lawson said he had been informed for several weeks that he would be taking over from Austin. Seen from the outside, it is all the more surprising that Ricciardo’s farewell was not officially announced in Singapore. Agreements with sponsors apparently played a role in the background.
But the situation of knowing about it for a long time but not being able to talk to anyone about it was “not good” for Lawson. He admits: “Singapore wasn’t a nice weekend for me. We all knew what was coming. And Daniel was very good to me when I stood in for him last year.”
“And even this season I never had the feeling that I was in competition with him. So it wasn’t a nice feeling. But for me of course it’s like this: I only have one chance in Formula 1, and it’s coming now. I am of course grateful for this opportunity and I have to grab it with both hands. Daniel told me that himself.”
“Honestly: I have a lot of respect for how he handled the whole thing. I was in a similar situation last year, but Daniel is much better known in public than I am, much more famous. He was often asked about the topic and had to avoid these questions. He did it very professionally.”
By the way: This whole interview with Helmut Marko (34 minutes)about the expulsion of Daniel Ricciardo, the sporting situation of Red Bull in the World Cup fight against McLaren and a possible Formula 1 return of Sebastian Vettel, is now available on the YouTube channel Formel1.de to see. (Subscribe to the channel now for free and never miss a new video!)
