AlphaTauri Wants to Use Liam Lawson as a Push for Daniel Ricciardo to Become Successful

Formula 1 doesn’t give you second chances. But for Daniel Ricciardo, the sport made an exception as AlphaTauri decided to give the Honey Badger an F1 seat again. After his squalid stint with McLaren, the prodigal son returned home. That being said, the Faenza-based team seems spoilt for choices as Kiwi rookie Liam Lawson has impressed in his short stint at the pinnacle of motorsport. Naturally, while the focus is on getting Ricciardo back to his glory days, the team cannot ignore the potential of Lawson, per MotorsportWeek.

During his time at Woking, Ricciardo seemed out of place. But now, as he finds himself once again within the Red Bull family, the 34-year-old has seemingly found his prowess back. It can’t be said that he hasn’t left an impact during his comeback races. However, Lawson has thrown a spanner in the works.

Lawson has been supremely impressive in the AT04. For starters, the car is arguably a handful to drive, as evidenced by the team’s 10th-placed fate this season. What’s more? Despite having virtually no experience driving an F1 car, the Kiwi has been at par, often, with his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda.

Daniel Ricciardo has a mountain to climb

His second coming in the sport did not go to plan. At the 2023 Dutch GP, the Australian faced a horror crash that left him with a fractured wrist. Naturally, he could not drive further. Since then, the Honey Badger has been on the sidelines as Lawson aims to impress.

Be that as it may, the Perth native is still the biggest thorn in the side of Sergio Perez. The Mexican Minister of Defence’s son might not have a lot of days left with the Milton-Keynes-based team. Daniel Ricciardo has been touted as the No. 1 replacement option for Checo if he fails to convince the team to retain his services for 2024 and beyond.

According to the team’s CEO, Peter Bayer, however, having someone like Lawson hounding Perez, Ricciardo and Tsunoda down is an ideal scenario. He explained, “It’s also good to have someone like Liam right behind them, to give them a bit of a push and make sure we make progress as a team.”

Ricciardo must push if he wants to secure that Red Bull dream

Ricciardo isn’t here to mess about anymore. He tried to rebuild teams at Renault and McLaren. Now, it is time for him to jump into a bona fide championship-contending team and aim for that elusive title. Hence, the Honey Badger is eagerly awaiting that call up to the A-team.

But the road to the Bulls isn’t going to be a straightforward one for Ricciardo. If he wants to convince both Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, he’ll have to pull off a few blinders in the coming weekend while nursing his wrist injury.