After months of speculation about his future, Daniel Ricciardo finally seems to be taking part in his final Formula 1 race weekend in the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix as Red Bull is expected to let go of him before Austin. Amid these rumors, Liam Lawson has emerged as the most likely candidate to replace the Aussie driver at VCARB.
Lawson, a young driver from New Zealand, has had an impressive junior career, which eventually earned him his spot in the Red Bull junior academy in 2019. His career took off in 2016 when he moved to the NZ F1600 Championship Series, becoming the youngest champion in its history with 14 wins.
The following year he raced in the Australian F4 championship, finishing second with five wins. In 2018, Lawson participated in the ADAC Formula 4 championship with Van Amersfoort Racing, claiming three wins and three pole positions to finish second yet again while also winning the rookies’ championship in the Euroformula Open that year as he missed out on the championship win.
LIAM LAWSON
Obecna Seria: Super Formula
Od kiedy jest w RBJT: 2019
Sukcesy na koncie:
3 miejsce Formula 2 (2022)
2 miejsce DTM (2021)
2 miejsce Toyota Racing Series (2020)
1 miejsce Toyota Racing Series (2019)
2 miejsce Euroformula Open (2019)
2 miejsce ADAC F4 (2018) pic.twitter.com/pD4ShposiJ— TRUTH RACING (@TRUTH_RACING_PL) March 17, 2023
However, funding his racing career has not been easy on his family. In an interview with Mind Set Win, Lawson expressed gratitude towards his family for their significant contributions.
The high cost of funding a racing career led to Lawson’s family making several sacrifices for him. His sisters sacrificed their dancing careers despite being national-level Irish dancers.
Lawson also revealed that his parents even had to sell their own house to help him continue racing. Now, all of Lawson’s family’s sacrifices will be worth it if the New Zealander receives a full-time F1 seat in 2025 as promised by the Red Bull bosses.
Why is Ricciardo likely to make way for Lawson?
This weekend’s Singapore GP could be Ricciardo’s last race due to his massive underperformance this season. Lawson is likely to replace him because of a rumored clause in his contract which states that if Red Bull do not offer him a race seat for the 2025 season, he would be released.
This date has now supposedly passed, and Red Bull executives, including Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, are expected to soon discuss the driver situation. Lawson currently serves as the reserve driver for both Red Bull Racing and its sister team VCARB.
q: any truth to lawson’s release clause?
“last year liam was very impressive … dr3’s had a reasonable season, but not stellar. now the question is, how good is liam? sometimes, difficult decisions have to be made in order to get those answers.” pic.twitter.com/HNRHAlIP12— cam¹⁶ (@LAWSTPNS) September 21, 2024
However, replacing Ricciardo is not something Lawson will do for the first time. After the Honey Badger broke his wrist in a crash at Zandvoort last season, Lawson replaced him at AlphaTauri (now VCARB) for five races.
Lawson not only managed to score his first-ever points in Formula 1 in Singapore last year, but he also left everyone in the paddock mighty impressed with his level of preparedness and his calm demeanor.
However, he was left disappointed when Red Bull decided to continue with the Riccardo-Tsunoda pairing for 2024. And while Dr. Marko had promised him that he would be in one of their cars in 2025, the opportunity might come sooner than he expected.
