Liam Lawson scene says plenty after Ricciardo crashes in Japan

By Christopher Reive

Coming into the new Formula One season, Kiwi driver Liam Lawson found himself at the centre of one of the more intriguing storylines.

The 22-year-old missed out on a seat with Red Bull Racing’s sister team Visa Cash App RB (VCARB - formerly AlphaTauri) despite some impressive performances as an injury replacement for Daniel Ricciardo in 2023, with Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo retained. Lawson consistently beat Tsunoda in his five races, while he largely achieved better results than Ricciardo but was re-signed as a reserve for both Red Bull and VCARB for 2024.

Ahead of the new season, Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko told German outlet Oe24 that, as it stood, Lawson would have a place on the grid in 2025, but he also wanted to see the Kiwi drive some races in 2024 “to see where his potential really lies”. Marko has since doubled down on that, suggesting Lawson would be a fulltime fixture on the grid no later than 2025.

It has fuelled the question as to where those races might come from in 2024, if at all, and in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, one scene summed up the situation.

Already struggling for results in 2024, Ricciardo crashed out in the opening lap at Suzuka after coming into contact with Williams driver Alex Albon. Both drivers avoided injury but hit the wall and were forced to retire from the event.

The incident saw the race move to a red flag setting and it was momentarily halted while the track was cleared. When it got back under way, the broadcast cut to the VCARB pit wall to show Ricciardo watching the screens with Lawson standing behind him; a personification of Lawson breathing down his Australian teammate’s neck in his quest for a seat.

It was a similar case when Ricciardo spun out in the third practice session of the week and the broadcast cut straight to an image of Lawson watching on in the garage.

Ironically, Ricciardo looked to have found something ahead of the Japanese GP as he qualified to start 11th on the grid, just one spot behind Tsunoda. In the three previous events of the season, Ricciardo had qualified to start 14th, 14th and 18th on the grid for race results of 13th, 16th and 12th.

The Herald reported last month that Ricciardo had been given an ultimatum to improve over the next two Grand Prix in Japan and China respectively, or risk losing his seat to Lawson.

Lawson has made his goal of being a fulltime F1 driver clear over the last year and has hinted that while making that happen with one of the Red Bull teams would be his preferred choice, he hadn’t closed the door exploring his options if the opportunity to take his career to the next step won’t be there among the Red Bull set-up.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission