Our verdict on Red Bull’s dismissal of Ricciardo because of Lawson

What is behind Daniel Ricciardo being kicked out of Red Bull again so that Liam Lawson can return to Formula 1? Is Lawson good enough to justify the move? Does Ricciardo deserve better? Is this further proof that Red Bull’s once enviable driver system is now a mess?

Here are our team’s first impressions of the recent mid-season shake-up of Red Bull’s F1 line-up.

RED BULL OBVIOUSLY WANTS PEREZ OUT

Ben Anderson

To me it feels like Red Bull is desperately trying to get rid of Sergio Perez by any means possible, even though they agreed a contract extension with him earlier this year!

Yuki Tsunoda now seems to be nothing more than the benchmark of the “junior team”, who (apparently for character reasons) will never be promoted, but merely serves to give Red Bull the opportunity to assess his successor.

There was clearly hope in some circles within the organization that Ricciardo would sweep Tsunoda off the field in 2024 and that it would therefore be relatively easy to justify Perez’s dismissal.

But Ricciardo says he has not impressed at RB, especially for a driver who has won multiple Grand Prix. So, with none of the RB drivers having a convincing chance of moving up, Red Bull is now banking on Lawson.

Red Bull must regain hope, He is the one who can finally knock Tsunoda off the grid and put Perez back under pressure. That’s the only logical reason to swap a driver you already know a lot about for another driver you already know a lot about!

This is an audition for Perez’s seat at Red Bull in 2025, but if Lawson cannot prevail against Tsunoda in the final six races of 2024, then Red Bull will run out of options for a move before the big rule change in 2026.

In this scenario, I expect George Russell to be seriously courted.

THAT’S LOGICAL, BUT RICCIARDO DESERVED BETTER

Scott Mitchell-Malm

The more I came to the conclusion that this Ricciardo-Lawson move is about an audition for Lawson to join Red Bull Racing in 2025, the more sense it made. Although I still believe Ricciardo deserves to have this handled better.

There was an argument that if RB were going to make the change for 2025 anyway, they might as well go ahead. This approach has its advantages. However, with only six events remaining, it seemed neither worth the embarrassment for Ricciardo nor the risk for Lawson. He has driven very little this year and, despite having a decent lead, needs to get up to speed quickly before the next race.

But when it comes to how Lawson responds to pressure, how he handles a difficult challenge, and how you look at him from a perspective other than just “is he good enough for RB?”, then those six races take on additional meaning. They are more useful. And that’s why the change makes more sense.

Despite all of that, I can’t imagine Red Bull had to wait until now to know for sure. All of those arguments are the same as before Singapore. And I think Ricciardo’s career, his behavior, and his perfectly acceptable level of performance in 2024 in terms of what RB needed all deserved a clearer situation.

I’m glad that over the course of the Singapore weekend he took control of the story himself and was able to say goodbye, say goodbye and enjoy the moment. Maybe Red Bull played a part in that. But it still felt a little strange and inappropriate.

Formula 1 does not transport passengers … not even nice ones

Mark Hughes

There was that Red Bull test at Silverstone where he did very well, salvaging an F1 career that would have been over after two years of subpar performance at McLaren. But over the next two seasons we only saw occasional flashes of speed like that.

Everyone wanted him to succeed and find old Daniel. His goodwill got him much further than almost anyone else. It was about time. Actually, it was about time a long time ago.

Formula 1 doesn’t carry passengers. But let’s pay tribute to the great driver that Daniel was for seven seasons in a row. And the great person that he is.

Crucial for Lawson’s career

Gary Anderson

We know from the past that Red Bull is quite brutal in its driver decisions and the way it has dealt with Ricciardo – at least outwardly – shows that there are no changes in the way it does business.

Hopefully there has been more direct communication regarding this possibility and the team has been more honest with him personally over the last few weeks and months.

Nevertheless, Lawson’s participation in the last six races for Red Bull is the only way to judge his true talent and commitment.

If and/or when RB has a problem-free weekend, he can be directly compared to Tsunoda, who is no slacker.

So Lawson can’t really hide. If he’s good, he’ll have a place at RB next year, if he’s exceptionally good, a place at Red Bull could open up. So it can be a win-win situation for him.

But if he doesn’t defeat Tsunoda, he’ll have lost his chance. His future is now in his hands.

WHY IS RED BULL LOOKING FOR DRIVERS AGAIN?

Edd Straw

This situation is the latest in a long line of alarm bells that have been ringing for years regarding Red Bull’s driver strategy. The team should be uniquely well placed in Formula 1 as it has the resources, the appeal and, thanks to the two teams, the capacity to ensure it is always strong in terms of its driver line-up and has a clear plan.

What is completely missing is the strategy.

Yes, Red Bull has apparently mastered the most difficult criterion by always having a top driver in their cars, a line of Sebastian Vettel, Ricciardo and then Max Verstappen.

Today, the company has at least one closest taxi in Lawson, but there is still obvious dissatisfaction with several drivers who were already in active service.

In recent times, Red Bull has re-signed drivers it had previously dropped three times – Brendon Hartley, Alex Albon and Daniil Kvyat. Mid-season changes were common and during the summer break it came close to firing Perez.

Red Bull has achieved great things in Formula 1. Not only thanks to enormous resources, but also thanks to clear, strategic decisions. It is astonishing that this does not seem to apply to the drivers.

Most F1 teams now have junior driver programs and the battle for the next big star is more intense than ever. With such fierce competition, you have to be rigorous in securing and developing talent. Planning needs to be long-term, Red Bull can’t just jump from year to year and start planning for 2025. There should be theoretical plans for after that, especially given the ongoing concerns about whether or not Verstappen will fulfil his current contract, which runs until the end of 2028. And even if he holds out until then, Red Bull should already be thinking about 2029.

Now we are coming to the rescue: There is a good chance that Red Bull will win the drivers’ championship this year with Verstappen, but will lose the constructors’ championship.

There is nothing wrong with having a number one driver and a number two driver, but the driver decision-making process needs to be planned much more precisely.

There have been signs that the scheme will be overhauled with the return of driver search for Red Bull, but importantly, the four driver pieces it has on the F1 board will be used far more effectively in active play.

For far too long, Red Bull has turned a unique strength into a weakness.

RICCIARDO KNEW HIS TIME WAS UP

Matt Beer

Until halfway through the Singapore Grand Prix, Ricciardo seemed to have no idea that his F1 career was (probably) coming to an end.

When the penny finally dropped, he himself explained in the most eloquent way why the matter must now come to an end.

His typically frank and admirable reflections on whether, at 35, he could still keep up with the increasingly better younger drivers, and his admission that he had only come back to prove he could be Max Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate again and that he had failed in that endeavour, showed that there was nothing for him. him to benefit from him remaining in that seat for the rest of 2024, not to mention RB or Red Bull.

The comeback had been worth a try. It wasn’t all bad, quite the opposite. But 35-year-old multiple Grand Prix winner Ricciardo, hero of some of the greatest moments of an often turgid, Mercedes-run F1 of the mid-2010s, didn’t need to spend the rest of 2024 travelling the world and risking his life to make a less than adequate contribution to the battle for midfield places in the Constructors’ Championship.

It’s a shame he didn’t have more personal control over when he closed his F1 chapter. He deserved it.

But no matter who else is in the starting blocks for Red Bull or what further plans the team has, Ricciardo’s story is over. He himself has made that clear.