Why Sky Sports F1 pundit Anthony Davidson was ‘sworn to secrecy’ over Daniel Ricciardo exit news

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The news that Daniel Ricciardo will be axed in favour of Liam Lawson with six races to go in 2024 stunned Formula 1 fans.

While his future was under scrutiny due to the lacklustre season he was having against Yuki Tsunoda, it seemed as if Red Bull were willing to persevere with Daniel Ricciardo.

In the build-up to the Singapore GP, there were more rumblings about it being Ricciardo’s last race with the team amid the contract situation with Liam Lawson that dictated he must be given a drive before the end of September otherwise he would become a free agent.

Given Visa CashApp RB is in a right battle with Haas in the Constructors’ Championship for sixth, it made sense for them to look towards Lawson as a potential replacement given Ricciardo has scored less points than Tsunoda all season.

Red Bull drew criticism with how they handled his exit by effectively turning it into word-of-mouth rather than confirming it was his last weekend, which Damon Hill said ended up turning into a ‘damp squib’.

Discussing the news on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, former F1 driver Anthony Davidson explained why he was ‘sworn to secrecy’ over the matter when rumours started to swirl around the paddock.

Anthony Davidson knew about Daniel Ricciardo exit before Singapore

Being an insider on the F1 paddock does mean you are privy to a lot of information that isn’t otherwise out in the public domain yet.

In the case of Ricciardo, the Australian was told over the Azerbaijan GP weekend that Singapore might be his last with the team barring any miracle result in the RB.

Davidson was informed of the news in the days leading up to the race weekend, which prompted a lot of speculation in the media.

“I wasn’t surprised to see the news break and for it to become official because people do talk. It’s not like we were taking wild guesses to come up with this hypothesis,” said Davidson.

“We did actually know but you are sworn to secrecy sometimes in the paddock and just because you don’t know it’s official, doesn’t mean it’s a guess. It was way more than just an educated guess.”

Daniel Ricciardo almost lost drive after ‘disastrous’ Miami GP

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed that Helmut Marko wanted Ricciardo out of the seat as early as the Spanish GP, following a ‘disastrous’ race in Miami.

Ricciardo had started off strong by finishing in the top five for the Sprint race, but had a bad qualifying and ended up in 15th for the Grand Prix.

READ MORE: The Red Bull offer Daniel Ricciardo rejected before Liam Lawson replaced him at RB

His inconsistency concerned Red Bull, particularly as they knew every point will count in the championship battle for their sister team.

Although RB faced opposition from their main sponsors Visa and CashApp to get rid of Ricciardo, it is up to Lawson to now show his capabilities and potentially audition for a seat for the main team for the future.