“Hi Liam, welcome to Formula 1. Oh, by the way, you’ve got a 10-place grid penalty for the sprint race due to an unscheduled engine swap.”
It perhaps is not the way that Liam Lawson had envisaged ahead of his long-awaited full-time debut with RB, but the New Zealander is likely to be not too bothered about the grid drop.
The penalty will come at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas – ironically the race where the driver he is replacing, Daniel Ricciardo, has plentiful support.
Speaking exclusively to Autosport sister site Motorsport-Total.com, Helmut Marko revealed the change, explaining: “The first [race], I think, won’t be relevant because he has an engine penalty. Ten places in the sprint race, so that doesn’t exactly make life easier in Austin.”
Lawson is poised to be measured in every detail as he replaces the popular and colourful Australian, who bowed out in an emotional last hurrah at the Singapore Grand Prix.
There will be no way he can fill the void left by Ricciardo’s personality, which has left a gaping hole in F1, but that’s not Lawson’s job. The 22-year-old’s responsibility now is to ensure that RB remains ahead of Haas in the constructors’ championship and has a strong end of the campaign in preparation for 2025.
In fact, Lawson’s grid drop could even be a blessing in disguise, for it will take the pressure off as he tests himself against team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
Besides, what’s a low spot on the grid for a sprint race in the grand scheme of things?
Lawson has been playing the role of Red Bull’s reserve driver for 33 months – but for five races where he filled in, quite admirably so, in 2023 when Ricciardo was out with a broken wrist.
Liam Lawson, Reserve Driver, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team
Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Lawson had bided his time on the sidelines, travelling to races in the vain hope of getting behind the wheel, taking part in hours of sessions on the team’s simulator, listening to each and every race debrief.
He has played the long game and been rewarded for his loyalty, something which the man who has backed his call up to RB holds in high regard.
Helmut Marko, head of Red Bull Racing’s junior programme, has long pushed for Lawson to replace Ricciardo, whose career had been ailing.
Truth be told, Marko had never recovered his fondness for Ricciardo after taking a dim view of his decision to shake on a new deal with him and the late Red Bull founder Dietrich…
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