One of the biggest talking points in Formula 1 since the Singapore Grand Prix has been the departure of Daniel Ricciardo, who has been replaced at RB by the team’s reserve driver Liam Lawson. But has the New Zealander inherited the same problem that led to Ricciardo’s exit from F1?
F1 pundit Nate Saunders recently discussed the whole situation and hinted that Lawson might very well face the same challenges the Aussie faced. He pointed out how Ricciardo’s return to the Red Bull family hinged on the fact that he would be a perfect replacement for Sergio Perez in the senior team.
However, the biggest hurdle in Ricciardo’s way proved to be his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who managed to outperform the Australian comprehensively. Saunders believes Lawson would face a similar problem because Tsunoda has become a sort of benchmark for Red Bull.
: Christian Horner is eager to see how Liam Lawson performs in his return to F1, replacing Daniel Ricciardo for the final six races. Lawson’s stint alongside Yuki Tsunoda will be crucial, especially since Tsunoda has matured as a competitor. Horner acknowledges Lawson’s… pic.twitter.com/AIRLoghWJE
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Saunders thinks that once one starts getting beaten by Tsunoda, one can’t realistically be seen as a future prospect for Red Bull. In a conversation with Laurence Edmondson on the ESPN podcast, Saunders said,
“Ricciardo’s return was always framed as can he replace Sergio Perez and it was such a lofty goal, wasn’t it? Liam Lawson’s down in that similar position now and Yuki proved to be a bit of trouble for Ricciardo in doing that. If you’re not beating Yuki Tsunoda immediately, you lose that kind of shout of I should replace Perez. So I think the pressure is huge.”
While Saunders believes that Lawson will face a similar challenge to Ricciardo, he expects the New Zealander to perform better than the Honey Badger. Saunders believes so because of how well Lawson performed compared to Tsunoda last year.
Will Tsunoda never be considered for a seat at Red Bull?
For the past year or so, there have been huge amounts of speculation about who will replace Perez at Red Bull. And while many names, both from within and without the Red Bull mold have come to the front, Tsunoda has never even been seriously considered for that seat.
This is why most F1 insiders and journalists feel that the Japanese driver will never be promoted to Red Bull Racing, regardless of how well he performs at RB. Scott-Mitchell Malm from The Race has also said that he thinks Red Bull is only using Tsunoda just as a filter for those drivers, who could have a future with the senior team.
Yuki Tsunoda was not impressed by rumours of RB reserve driver Liam Lawson being promoted to Red Bull before him #F1 pic.twitter.com/jFf413sUgH
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“Nobody is really championing Tsunoda means that Tsunoda’s just probably never going to get his flowers within the Red Bull organization, is he? I don’t think he’s ever going to really be taken that seriously,” Malm said.
And perhaps Tsunoda knows this, which is why he even said earlier that his job now is not only to impress Red Bull but also all the other teams.
