Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson has been waiting in the wings to make his F1 debut. Visa Cash App RB (V-CARB) boss Laurent Mekies has now admitted that they cannot afford to test the New Zealander’s patience further and lose him forever.
Mekies, who left Ferrari to join V-CARB at the start of this season, has made it clear that the team is trying to figure out solutions to get Lawson into the car. Speaking about his undeniable racing talents, Mekies explained that he had made a compelling case for him to be considered for a full-time debut next year.
Racing News 365 quoted the Frenchman as saying, “He [Lawson] has already shown that a few times in his career, especially last year when he had to jump into the car at the last minute to replace Daniel. So we all want to give Liam a chance because we have seen that potential and we don’t want to pass it up.”
| Red Bull will make an announcement on Liam Lawson in September, says Helmut Marko.
He makes clear Lawson is “not available” to rivals.https://t.co/cW2FNEk8p2
— formularacers (@formularacers_) August 7, 2024
But as things stand, Ricciardo is in fact the biggest roadblock to Lawson‘s future in the sport. With Yuki Tsunoda firmly embedded into the Red Bull junior program, Ricciardo’s seat is the only one available for Lawson in the near future.
That said, the #3 driver’s own future in the sport and with V-CARB is a bone of contention for the top brass of the Milton-Keynes-based team. The Honey Badger’s future is yet unclear – whether Red Bull want to promote him to the senior team by replacing Sergio Perez or dropping him altogether.
Red Bull’s top management are divided on Ricciardo’s future
As things stand, Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko is eager to set the record straight in terms of the driver set-up at both the Milton Keynes-based outfit and V-CARB. Ricciardo is seen as an outlier because he does not fit the requirements of being a ‘junior driver’ to occupy a seat with V-CARB.
Helmut Marko on Daniel Ricciardo:
“Daniel was put in the car and if he would have been significantly faster than Yuki there was an idea to bring him back to Red Bull Racing”
“But he also had this up and down. So, so far, he didn’t fulfil the criteria to be a Red Bull Racing… pic.twitter.com/NUsYdk8Qsj
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) August 7, 2024
However, the Australian does seemingly have the backing of Christian Horner. This means that at least for the time being, the #3 driver‘s future in the sport with Red Bull is relatively safe. Hence, Mekies has no other option than to try and extract the maximum from Ricciardo despite his underwhelming performances so far.
