Lawson in place of Ricciardo
The news that everyone had been waiting for since the Singapore GP weekend arrived without surprises: Liam Lawson will replace Daniel Ricciardo at the wheel of Racing Bulls in the last six races of the 2024 F1 season. The almost predictable epilogue of the latest intrigue in the most explosive drivers’ market of the decade. The 22-year-old New Zealander in fact had a clause in his contract that would have allowed him to free himself from obligations to the Red Bull family if he had not received promotion to Formula 1 by the end of September. But it is also clear that, behind the dismissal of Ricciardo and the investiture of Lawson, it seems that a much bigger game could be played already with a view to 2025.
Who is Liam Lawson?
The path among young people, it must be said, was not exactly that of a predestined one. Second in F4 Australia in 2017 and also in German F4 in 2018, then fifth in his second year in F3 in 2020 and third in his second year in F2 in 2022. Finally, second again in 2023, in the Japanese Super Formula championship, which is as close to F1 as there can be in terms of speed and downforce of the cars. In between, however, five GPs in Formula 1 raced as a substitute for Ricciardo – who injured his left hand in an accident during free practice on Friday in Zandvoort – they changed the perception of it, probably convincing Helmut Marko to forget about cursus honorum anything but irresistible in the minor leagues.
In those first five GPs in Formula 1, Lawson seemed like a mature, ready, fast driver. Even mentally solid, able to withstand the internal comparison with the more experienced Yuki Tsunoda without difficulty – in Suzuka there were even clashes via radio between the two during the GP – and even achieve access to Q3 in Singapore, taking out a certain Max Verstappen from the games and then closed the race in the points. From today, however, he will no longer be the boy with the angelic face and icy eyes called at the last minute to replace Ricciardo and limit the damage, but the rising star who put an early end to the story of a much-loved pilot. It doesn’t seem like much, but it makes all the difference in the world.
Unjust insults on social media
It is no coincidence that on social media the usual idiots commented ungenerously on the post in which Lawson proudly announces that he will race the next GPs with Racing Bulls. “I have always dreamed of being a Formula 1 driver – he wrote on Instagram – since I was a child and today I am happy to say that my dream has finally come true. I want to thank Racing Bulls and Red Bull for this opportunity. I am extremely grateful and excited to get to work”. A job that will be very hard: he will have to sit behind the wheel of a car he knows little about, yet immediately go fast and without looking for alibisto demonstrate that treating Ricciardo disrespectfully by firing him during the championship was the only thing possible at this point of the season.
The casting for Red Bull 2025
Already a difficult undertaking in itself, but which Red Bull could make even more complex by putting that little bit more pressure on him with a view to 2025. Paddock Radio already says that, beyond the legal quibbles, the choice to put the 22-year-old New Zealander in car for the last six GPs could be nothing more than a sort of casting Marko-style for the role of vice-Verstappen next season. With Sergio Perez – for a change – on the gridiron despite the contract already signed until 2026, winning the internal challenge with Tsunoda could be worth much more than the “simple” ticket for a trip around the world on the Racing Bulls. Too bad it had to go instead… On to the next one.
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