05/10/2024
NEWS STORY
Knowing what was coming, Liam Lawson admits his unease throughout the Singapore Grand Prix weekend.
As we tweeted at one point over the weekend, just a year after all but demanding that Daniel Ricciardo replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull, the Sky team appeared to be salivating at the Australian's potential demise.
As the majority of the team (over)emphasised his low points, the camera would focus on the RB driver sporting a pained expression before cutting away to another part of the team's garage in which Lawson was standing chatting with Laurent Mekies.
As the broadcaster sought to build the drama, the frequent shots of the New Zealander seemed to hint that he was part of the plot to unseat his popular Australian rival.
Now that RB has officially announced its decision to replace Ricciardo, Lawson has revealed his unease over an unnecessarily difficult situation.
"Singapore was definitely not an enjoyable weekend for me," he tells New Zealand's Newstalk ZB. "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," adds the kiwi. "He never made it feel like that.
"So it wasn't a nice feeling."
While Ricciardo hasn't helped himself, though many will point to the shortcomings of the car, the situation wasn't helped by the prevarication over the situation at Red Bull where Perez's future also remained in question. Consequently, while there has been talk of Ricciardo being dropped for some time, there was also the chance that he might feature in a significant reshuffle of the two teams' line-ups.
Behind the scenes there was obvious disagreement between Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, not helped by claims that Lawson had a clause in his contract that could effectively make the youngster a free agent were he not guaranteed a 2025 drive.
"It had been the plan for a long time now, where this was sort of where it was leading," says Lawson of his promotion to the RB drive. "Obviously I had a contract date that needed to be sort of fulfilled.
"Then, a couple of weeks ago, they basically they told me, 'This is what was going to happen', and then basically, not long after that, it was basically set in stone."
The option in Lawson's contract came into effect over the Baku weekend, leaving Red Bull with a clear cut choice, retain the New Zealander - at the cost of Ricciardo - or lose him. In retaining him for 2025, Ricciardo's 'death warrant' was effectively signed... as the media was well aware.
"He did a very good job on the weekend," says Lawson of Ricciardo's final weekend. "Honestly, I have a huge amount of respect for how he dealt with everything.
"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. He did a very good job.
"I'll never forget that feeling last year," adds the kiwi who replaced Ricciardo in five races following the Australian's crash at Zandvoort and despite qualifying 10th for the Singapore race was told that the team would be retaining its original line-up for 2024.
"I'd gone into the week and just had my absolute best quali, and I got told then, basically that I wouldn't be driving next year. We obviously fast forward a year, it hasn't been the most enjoyable year, but obviously I'm glad that we all stuck with it, and if anything, I'm better prepared now.
"There's so much to learn in F1 that honestly, even if you're not driving and you're reserve, you're absorbing so much information that it's going to be a big step, but I'm glad we stuck in there.
"I get one shot at F1 and it's come now. I'm obviously grateful for that opportunity, but I now need to take it with both hands. At the same time, he (Ricciardo) said the same thing to me, he said, you need to make the most of it."