Liam Lawson caught the eye in 2023 when, without warning, he was called in to replace the injured Daniel Ricciardo during the Dutch GP. His stay extended until the Qatar GP and he even managed to score points.
Despite his good performances, the New Zealander did not have a place in the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team for this season, with the option being to keep Yuki Tsunoda and Ricciardo – who last year replaced Nyck de Vries after his dismissal.
Now, it may be the Australian facing a similar scenario. His performances at the beginning of 2024 have been below expectations, and despite his greater experience, he has not been at the level of his teammate.
In Japan, he retired shortly after the start after being involved in an incident with Alex Albon (Williams/Mercedes) – being slow at the start, which Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko attributed to the hard tires.
Giedo van der Garde commented on the DRS De Race Show podcast that Ricciardo’s future may be at risk: ‘If this continues, it will take a few more races like this and then Liam Lawson will be in that car. Things will happen quickly’.
In the view of the former driver, Ricciardo is not showing himself at the level of Tsunoda: ‘He is nice and a very good driver, but now we see that he is a bit short against Tsunoda. He was also a bit short against Max [Verstappen] and a bit short against Lando Norris’.
