Liam Lawson forced to apologise to RB on F1 return at US Grand Prix

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Liam Lawson is embarking on his first weekend in Formula 1 following the news that he would replace Daniel Ricciardo at Visa Cash App RB at the United States Grand Prix.

The Kiwi driver has been afforded the chance to impress the Red Bull hierarchy and land a full-time seat with their junior team RB alongside Yuki Tsunoda in 2025.

Lawson will replace the outgoing Ricciardo for the remainder of the 2024 season. David Coulthard was left thinking Ricciardo ‘whimpered out’ of F1 as he struggled to consistently perform on his return to a full-time seat.

Lawson previously replaced Ricciardo when the team was known as AlphaTauri in 2023 after the Aussie broke his wrist in Zandvoort. In the five races he got with the team, the 22-year-old put in some standout performances, particularly at Singapore as he scored his first F1 points with ninth.

However, despite these displays, Lawson was snubbed of a full-time seat in 2024 and was left on the sidelines as Red Bull’s reserve driver. Now, after Ricciardo was unable to deliver results, the Kiwi driver will return to the cockpit as he hopes to prove he is worthy of racing in F1.

Liam Lawson apologises for Sprint Qualifying elimination at the United States Grand Prix

Despite him being confirmed to compete in only six races in 2024, Red Bull are expecting Lawson to match Yuki Tsunoda during his time with RB as they look to assess whether he will race with the team next season.

This should not really come as a surprise considering how cutthroat Red Bull are with their drivers, as evidenced by Ricciardo this year, as well as Nyck de Vries who suffered a similar fate in 2023.

At the United States Grand Prix, Lawson was eliminated from SQ2 in Sprint Qualifying on Friday. The Kiwi driver would have been knocked out anyway as his final lap time was only good enough for 12th, but this lap was deleted due to track limits, subsequently demoting him to 15th for the Sprint race.

As Lawson returned to the pits, his race engineer came over the radio to inform him of his elimination: “Ok Liam, that won’t be enough.

And the 22-year-old was apologetic about it as he responded: “That was very scrappy. Sorry.”

What will the two Red Bull teams look like in 2025?

Red Bull did not want to promote Lawson immediately to the main team as they did not know if he could cope under the ‘high-pressure environment.’ However, despite being given the chance at RB, there is no guarantee that he will be on the grid in 2025.

By all means, Lawson could struggle, which could lead to the team assessing their options and considering whether the Kiwi driver is actually worthy of a full-time F1 seat.

Then again, the 22-year-old has proven his ability with the team last year, and there could be a possibility that he does end up replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen next year. The Mexican is under enormous pressure to keep his seat as he has been desperately struggling to score points at the front of the field this year.

Tsunoda will also be an option if Perez is dropped by the team, considering that he has been with the junior team since 2021 and largely outperformed Ricciardo this year until his sacking. These driver changes could open the door for Isack Hadjar to join the F1 grid, who is currently fighting for the Formula 2 title.