Liam Lawson says he has known for the past two weeks he would make his return to Formula 1 in the next race in Austin.
RB announced today Lawson will replace Daniel Ricciardo in their line-up with immediate effect.During the Singapore Grand Prix weekend team principal Laurent Mekies said there was “nothing decided so far” regarding their plans for the rest of the year. However Lawson said he knew before the last two races that he would take Ricciardo’s place.
“It now finally does feel real, obviously I knew about it for the last, probably, two weeks, but until it’s out there to the world, it obviously doesn’t ever really feel set in stone,” he told the New Zealand Herald. “I couldn’t tell anybody.”
“It had been the plan for a long time now, where this was where I was leading,” he added. “Obviously I had a contract date that needed to be fulfilled so basically it was going towards this way, and then a couple of weeks ago they told me this is what was going to happen. And then basically not long after that, it was set in stone.”
Lawson, who stood in for Ricciardo in five races last year, said it did not feel good to be in the RB garage in Singapore last weekend under the circumstances.
“Singapore was definitely not an enjoyable weekend for me just because obviously we all knew what was coming,” he said. “At the same time, Daniel has always been very good to me in a lot of ways when I drove last year.
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“Even this season, he’s always been somebody that I’ve never felt in competition with him or anything like that. He never made it feel like that.
“So it wasn’t a nice feeling. But obviously this for me is, I get one shot at F1 and it’s come now and I’m obviously grateful for that opportunity. But now I need to take it with both hands. And at the same time, he said the same thing to me and he said ‘you know you need to you need to make the most of it’.”
Mekies eventually indicated on Sunday night “this may have been Daniel’s last race.” Lawson said he has “a huge amount of respect for how he dealt with everything because I can’t really imagine that.
“It’s a similar position I was in last year, but obviously the guy is just a lot more public, a lot more famous than I am. So he’s getting a lot of questions and trying to sidestep those he did a very good job.”
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Eric Sortzi
27th September 2024, 1:07
If RB had made this decision formal weeks in advance and did absolutely nothing for Daniel knowing full well it was his last race with the team and maybe in the sport… that speaks volumes about how brutal and awful that team and its leadership truly is. Daniel deserved better.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
27th September 2024, 16:42
A, Lawson probably shouldn’t have said anything about that. It looks bad on him, & RB.
B. Daniel knows whats going on, its the media that are hounding him, and prodding and pulling. If it’s his time to go, it should be off the track, in a professional setting, and expectations should be clear. Complete privacy, and if they want to throw a party or make a thing out of it, you can celebrate in front of the cameras on Sunday.
Red Bull are acting in a very professional and upstanding way. If the media wants to spin things to create drama, they can, but as far as Ricciardo is concerned, his relationship with Red Bull is professional, and their relationship should be private. He is not a politician, and his dealings should not be public record unless it is desired/unlawful.
T
27th September 2024, 17:44
Red Bull are acting in a very professional and upstanding way
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
28th September 2024, 16:19
thats why they waited till after the race to make their decision. I wouldn’t trust the media, they lie about almost everything ;)
Nick T.
27th September 2024, 1:57
If this is true. It makes the way they treated Ricciardo triply shameful. It’s also pretty stupid for Lawson to say this.
Ankita
27th September 2024, 4:01
Absolutely agree. Lawson has the respect the team’s decision as to the timing of the announcements.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
27th September 2024, 4:14
Just shows he has loose lips as well as lacking respect.
Everyman and his dog knows there was an option to be taken up or not mid September.
Now he has the remainder of the season to show RB (whichever) that he deserves a contract for 2025.
Not an auspicious start.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th September 2024, 6:44
Nick T. Indeed. Issuing the formal announcement within the Monza-Baku interval would’ve been better for all parties instead of waiting until early on into this long interval.
Unfortunately, waiting for a little while after a decision before issuing a formal announcement seems to be a generally recurring thing in F1.
For example, the same happened concerning Jack Doohan who got to know about his future full-time drive on the day after the Belgian GP, yet the formal announcement only happened on the Dutch GP practice day.
BrunoC64 (@brunoc64)
27th September 2024, 8:59
Yes and no, i also think they could have ended Ric’s career in an other way. But on the other hand i think that Daniel already knew it was his last race. That’s why he reacted the way he did after the race. That was just not the way he did after all the previous races.
The controversy about him securing the fast lap also wasn’t the way he wanted it to end i think. :-(
Nick T.
27th September 2024, 10:04
But from what reporters say, it was clear going into the weekend he didn’t know. He knew, just as it had been going on for half of the season, that there was talk, but as the weekend went on RBR not pushing back in the slightest against intensifying speculation and some other factors led to him realizing maybe it was imminent and he became more emotional and slightly dejected as the weekend unfolded and by Sunday seemed to be in the acceptance stage.
Anyway, I have to admit I’ve gone from just thinking Lawson was extremely overhyped and being bugged that most of the hype came from one result in which no one seemed to notice was largely a fluke due to a massive amount of attrition, to now disliking him to boot. Maybe he’s a super nice guy, but he just strikes me as having this smirky attitude that rubs me the wrong way. So, while I’ve always thought he was going to be a highly unremarkable and therefore disappointing driver, to now hoping for it. I know that’s a petty, unbecoming attitude, but I’d be lying if I said otherwise.
anon
27th September 2024, 11:48
It’s somewhat unclear what exactly Ricciardo was told before the race weekend, or what exactly went on during the race weekend too.
Some have suggested that the team had informally indicated before the race weekend that he might be replaced, but the final formal decision was made during the race weekend.
Others, meanwhile, have suggested Ricciardo was only given a vague hint before that there would be an announcement, but it was left unclear whether that meant he was being replaced immediately, or if was about 2025 instead (meaning he might have expected to be replaced, but not until the end of the season).
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
27th September 2024, 16:15
Lawson is a super down to earth nice guy. I think you’re projecting some kind of arrogance onto him that doesn’t exist.
You don’t like his smirk is a vague reason. Also the Singapore result wasn’t a fluke. He was the only Red Bull driver to get into Q3 and even without Russell’s accident would have scored a P10. Any points for that team is huge as they’ve been so poor.
Also get the full context of him saying he knew 2 weeks ago, he said it was horrible and he felt for Ricciardo because he’d had a similar experience at last year’s Singapore GP. Everyone was interviewing him saying he’d definitely done enough for a promotion and he had to pretend a decision hadn’t already been made.
Bob
27th September 2024, 10:45
Apparently he didn’t know until after the Singapore GP. Horner apparently told him that night after the race.
That said, it seems that he slowly figured it out given how much more intense the media was and with RBR not doing anything to reject the rumours.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
27th September 2024, 12:43
Yeah, this seems the most likely in how it played out. But it doesn’t really explain Liam’s comments. Why would they tell Liam, but still string it out with Daniel (lie to him essentially?). It all seems a bit ham-fisted by Red Bull, and not for the first time this season. It’s not like Red Bulls haven’t had plenty of experience on employee departures, they must have spent a few pounds on ‘good luck on your next adventure!’ cards recently.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
27th September 2024, 13:00
This might be what the situation was but there is no need to publicise it. It’s a pretty crass and stupid comment by Lawson to be honest. OK, there will be those that argue he just responded to a media question. But do stop and think about what you are saying. He could have fudged the answer. He cannot be that stupid.
Obviously from Daniel’s comments, it was not made crystal clear to him. But this is no surprise. The management of Red Bull are awful, insensitive people. Always have been.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
28th September 2024, 17:34
we don’t know what Red Bull told Daniel, period. This is just garbage media to get people’s attention. We also don’t know if Liam was being strung along and told certain things would happen.
The thing to take away is, nobody knows whats going on except Red Bull, and Dan. Even if Dan knew he was going to be replaced, its not like he was going to say anything before Red Bull said anything. Thats the difference between a veteran and someone who needs to realize the media are a bunch of parasites who will only upend you in the long run.
Sandwhichands
27th September 2024, 3:13
I mean he couldn’t wait a few weeks if he was desperate to say it?
Ross
27th September 2024, 3:45
Pretty disrespectful from both Lawson and RB. Lawson needs to step up now, earn more than 1 point.
Mr B
27th September 2024, 10:57
If Lawson was asked a straight question from a journalist about when he was told he had the drive is he expected to lie? It appears to me that he answered truthfully. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t media coached by the team about how to answer such a question.
All these timings just seem a bit odd.
Just tell DR he’s lost his drive, then tell LL he’s in and then release it to the press shortly afterwards.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th September 2024, 13:37
Yes, I blame red bull for the way they handled this (surprising, since they for example kept perez way longer than they should have), but not lawson for being honest.
Nick T.
28th September 2024, 11:07
They didn’t ask him when he knew he was getting the seat. He brought it up voluntarily. Had he been asked the question directly, here’s all you need to answer: “I didn’t know anything for certain until this weekend.” Really not that hard. And it’s not a lie. Until you’re formally announced, nothing is set in stone. He did not say it in an arrogant way. I’m just surprised he didn’t think about what he’d say/how it’d read.
Honda
27th September 2024, 4:15
Many are already putting him in RBR for 2025. But unless he has improved considerably according to my observation he is going to fall well short.
Lawson was slower by 0.164secs in Monza, 0.175secs in Singapore, 0.304secs in Japan, 0.577secs in Qatar(1.3secs overall as he did not make Q2). Only in Qatar Sprint shootout he was 0.724secs faster as Yuki was out in SQ1. In Singapore Yuki only set a time in Q1 he was P1. Lawson had to go out on new soft again and brought the gap down to some 0.2secs ending P4 in Q1. Yuki Q1 time was good enough for Q3 and track got quicker. So we do not know how much faster he could have gone had a done a clean lap in Q2. I am giving Lawson benefit of doubt in Holland as he only did FP3 and it was wet. He was few secs down there in Qualifying. So I guess he was asked to bring car in one piece.
From 4 races or 5 if we include Holland he is yet to set a faster time than Yuki in qualifying with the exception of Qatar Sprint shootout, which is the anomaly here. I just hope these journalist decide beforehand is Lawson the next big thing or not ? Because once Yuki beats him they are going to downplay it as usual. My guess is he is going to be decent but not really fast. He seems to have talent to adjust quickly, may be a quick learner but I think he is lacking raw speed so Yuki should beat him easily. IMO Ricciardo was not bad and my guess is Lawson is going to do little worse than him.
Sandwhichands
27th September 2024, 4:34
Interesting post. Whilst I am very biased to RIC, if Lawson doesn’t show substantial potential and experience than how is he a better option for a Checo replacement? They clearly don’t want Yuki, and second seat in RB seems to be about placating Max and sponsorship than a fierce competitor.
Maybe they are changing their overall strategy looking to have a max replacement in the wings? Maybe their PU program isn’t looking good and they expect some years in the wilderness and want a driver who has at least 5 years in them? It’s all very interesting.
Nick T.
27th September 2024, 10:09
Precisely why it was so annoying that he got so hyped. He showed basically nothing beyond that he was good enough not to put it in the wall and be genuinely competitive with Yuki in one race in which he got a better strategy. And, as we’ve seen, it’s not that hard for drivers who’ve had lots of time in the sim, multiple seasons of F2 (he had three seasons of top level feeder series experience – that’s a lot). So, yeah, I’m hoping Yuki smashes him and while I’m disappointed in how Daniel has gone out, part of me is really excited that I think Lawson is going to get exposed a lot quicker. Another reason I’m looking forward to that is that there’s just this huge community of fans whose life seems to revolve around mocking DR and hyping Lawson.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th September 2024, 14:15
Agree, for all I saw lawson, I understand he was pretty new, but he was tsunoda level at best, and if tsunoda isn’t at gasly’s level (which is doubtful he improved that much since) and gasly isn’t good enough to succeed in a red bull, even just as a number 2 driver, then it’s understandable they look for better than tsunoda, but it’s also predictable lawson won’t be the answer.
Honda
27th September 2024, 22:46
He was not ready in his first year but in the second year he nearly matched him. Gasly was little ahead but not by much 12-9 in qualifying, 8-5 in the races where both finished. The difference was in points 23-12. Baku made a big difference. Gasly scored 10pts with P5. Yuki would have got 8pts with P6 without the DRS failure. 23-20 was more representative.
IMO Max destroying his teammates has more to do with car tailor-made for him and his teammate has to simply adjust. That is the reason since Max took control of the team all his teammate were nearly half a sec slower than him.
Lawson vs Yuki, we will soon find out. But from my observation he is not close. May be now he is more prepared and has done his homework. Otherwise my guess it that he is going to be some 0.2 to 0.3secs slower most times than not.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th September 2024, 14:16
And as for being new, you see how colapinto is immediately on albon’s pace: if a driver is strong, he will be fast from the start.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
27th September 2024, 4:56
Congratulations to Liam for getting this opportunity to drive in F1. Remember to do your homework.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
27th September 2024, 8:37
Shocking treatment of Danny, especially when you consider that Perez is still sat pretty in the parent team.
T
27th September 2024, 14:24
after watching this, with all that’s being revealed, consider me an RB anti-fan
I was apathetic maybe ambivalent if I needed to be about RB, consider me an anti-fan
in the same way at the end of the day, we’re all Ferrari fans, I’ve boarded the RB disdain train
I’ll watch how the ‘rookie’ copes with the incompetence of the strategy department while keeping an eye out for the downfall of this empire with a hint of glee
is this right? no
will this stop me? also no
Nick T.
28th September 2024, 1:56
Funny, I’ve never disliked Ferrari, but I’ve generally rooted against them for most of
my time as a fan. Has a lot to do with being a WIlliams BMW fan and seeing them win and sometimes crush the field for 5 straight seasons.
David
27th September 2024, 9:44
Why the criticism of Lawson for being honest? Aussie timezone comments?
Surely plenty of you have been in a situation at the workplace where you know you will be moving but you don’t announce it until all the pieces have been put in place to save embarrassment?
Seems pretty clear that Lawson had a contract that stipulated a race seat at some point this season, which they decided to take him up on.
And that they chose not to unsettle Daniel until they had to so that he could race at his best.
I’m no fan of dropping drivers mid season but clearly RB were forced into making a choice. If Daniel had performed he wouldn’t have lost his seat – a year ago Horner was keen to have him replace Perez.
Nick T.
27th September 2024, 10:11
Because it just has this mocking note of “Yeah, I knew that guy was out weeks ago” even if he didn’t mean it like that. So, either he’s not very bright or he was intentionally being a jerk.
SteveP
27th September 2024, 11:26
I think you have to take the whole context:
Lawson responded to journo questions that he knew what was planned weeks ago, Mekies said nothing was decided.
Lawson no doubt has a contract with a date on it to back up his version.
At the end of the day, DR knew the writing was on the wall, but it had no date stamp, the option on Lawson running out in September was widely known.
The only real question is, why did they, apparently, choose to leave DR out of the loop on the timings?
MichaelN
27th September 2024, 12:47
Mekies can’t decide anything, he’s not a real team principal.
He might have gotten his orders at the same time Ricciardo was told.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th September 2024, 13:20
MichaelN Indeed since Red Bull organization ultimately decides drivers for their B-team as well.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th September 2024, 14:20
Yes, true, was the same with franz tost too, questions about TR drivers ended up being asked to horner and marko, since they were the ones deciding, and not the TR team principal.
Nick T.
28th September 2024, 11:10
I listened to the video. The journalist never asks him when he knew. He just asked him how it feels to know he’s in F1 now. Either way, he didn’t do anything wrong besides maybe not think about what he’d say and how it’d sound in the context of the weekend.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
27th September 2024, 16:21
Go on YouTube and listen to the radio interview. If you have already and thought he was being disrespectful then fair enough, but I honestly didn’t hear it like you are reading the statement. He also paused and reluctantly said when he knew. Red Bull are the ones who messed the whole Ricciardo situation up, it’s not Lawson’s job to tell anyone he had that seat, he kept quiet until it was announced.
Garns (@garns)
27th September 2024, 11:14
David- I’m an Aussie and I wish Liam nothing but he best of luck, but he probably could have saved the ‘knew for two weeks’ comment, he’s just young and excited. I read some people are giving him a hard time on X, and that’s not on really, not his fault, they should direct that at Marko, Horner and Mekies. A driver like Dan who gave them so much deserved a proper send off, donuts, helmet swaps with other drivers and a guard of honour like Massa got (the 1st time).
paulipedia (@paulipedia)
27th September 2024, 13:47
+1
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
27th September 2024, 14:10
I’m late to this one, but like a few on here, I’m unhappy with the way this sounds.
I was deeply impressed with Lawson’s drives (Short notice. Poor conditions. Didn’t wipe out. Beat some good drivers etc etc) and look forwards to yet another promising looking rookie on the grid.
Hopefully this is a mixture of Media Focus and perhaps a slip of the tongue.
Rather than an indication that we have another arrogant little brat on the grid.
JJ (@jjfrazz)
27th September 2024, 14:13
Is this where all the twitter-heads are posting now?
Daniel said, more than once, that he had a performance clause in his contract, and that he knew he was finished weeks ago. Why the surprise? Why blame Lawson, who also had a time stamp on his services?
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
27th September 2024, 14:19
I don’t think anyone is surprised JJ.
It’s just the way he seems to be crowing about having known for weeks that he had the seat.
The way it is being presented makes him look like smug A-Hole.
As I said above, I genuinely hope that I, and these others, are mistaken.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
27th September 2024, 14:56
Transcript NZ radio
We all knew what was sort of coming. And, you know, at the same time, Daniel has always been very good to me, in a lot of ways. When I drove last year and then even this season, he’s always been somebody that there’s never been… I’ve never felt sort of in competition with him or anything like that. He never made it feel like that. So it wasn’t a nice feeling,” he said.
I can’t really imagine what that.. it’s a similar position I was in last year but obviously the guy is a lot more famous than I am, so he’s getting a lot of questions and trying to sidestep those.”
And then a couple of weeks ago, basically they told me, ‘This is what was going to happen,’ and then basically, not long after that, it was basically set in stone,”
Make what you will. All a bit confused
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
27th September 2024, 15:15
Thanks for that @davedai – really, this shows how easy it is for the Media to pick and chose quotes to paint their own picture.
That looks to me more like an overexcited kid at Christmas than anything else.
Let’s get him in that car and see what he does with it :)
anon
27th September 2024, 16:11
I wouldn’t go down the route of blaming the press alone. Even when that information has been provided to people in an article and is freely available elsewhere, there seems to be a tendency for people to focus on that specific quote anyway.
Even if people do have the quote provided in context, they’re not always interested in actually reading the rest of the text to understand what the context of the quote was.
Nick T.
28th September 2024, 9:51
Please cite where Ricciardo said “I have a performance clause I have failed to meet and I am going to be replaced.” or a similar variation of this.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
27th September 2024, 14:18
And in a cruel twist of fate Lawson has a 10 place grid penalty for COTA.
PU change
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
27th September 2024, 19:03
I assume this is a joke, for there is no reason for anyone to be announcing any such thing at this point.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
28th September 2024, 1:32
Could be. From elsewhere.
Or not
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
28th September 2024, 1:35
Then of course there is this(allegedly) about Andretti
J.R. Love (@dermechaniker)
27th September 2024, 16:47
This “time” where people make a snap character judgment from a single quote taken out of context, proceeding to run with that snap judgement publicly rather than researching source of the statements made is truly maddening. (Thanks media machine for your hand in that.)
Lawson has nothing but utmost respect for RIC and all the support and guidance he gave when sidelined during the broken hand incident.
Blame RB and Red Bull for their, continued, ham-fisted management of, well, everything. Don’t blame Lawson for any of that foolishness.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
27th September 2024, 22:34
Exactly. It’s sad to see. I kinda expected some hate from Ricciardo fans towards Lawson, but he’s done nothing wrong imho. Also if anything he’s just highlighted how decisions are often made and the drivers are forced to keep quiet until they’re contractually allowed to say anything.
Nick T.
28th September 2024, 9:58
In my case, I had already taken a disliking to him and this just clinched it for me. Don’t blame the media for Lawson not being bright enough to choose his words well.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
27th September 2024, 19:02
I wish I could say this news surprised me.
praxis (@praxis)
28th September 2024, 3:16
“how to boost reader engagement in the comments section, 101”