Daniel Ricciardo is once again stuck in a loop of underperformance. The Australian driver began the 2024 season with a fresh mindset to perform well for V-CARB. However, he has not lived up to the expectations, with Yuki Tsunoda comfortably beating him. This has posed several questions about Ricciardo’s future at the Faenza-based outfit. With Liam Lawson on the sidelines, there is chatter about the Kiwi driver possibly replacing Ricciardo for 2025. However, V-CARB CEO Peter Bayer has said that it is too early to make such a decision.
According to Speedcafe, Bayer commented, “It’s very early days. It depends a bit on how the global market is developing. If there is a change in our team, there’s a big likely vote for Liam [Lawson] to be the one.”
Lawson performed spectacularly well during his stand-in performances when Ricciardo was injured in 2023. The 22-year-old consistently matched Tsunoda and even beat him to score points at the Singapore GP. Therefore, it was a tough call by AlphaTauri (now V-CARB) to not give him a full-time seat for 2024.
Since Lawson is still the team’s reserve driver and considering how Ricciardo has performed so far this season, Bayer and Co. would be tempted to rethink about retaining the New Zealander. While it has only been five races so far, the Honey Badger doesn’t seem to get on top of the V-CARB-01 relative to how Tsunoda is performing.
If Ricciardo’s form doesn’t improve as the season progresses, V-CARB may have to take a tough call of parting ways with him. This is not the first time Ricciardo has struggled relative to his younger teammate as he also underperformed when compared to Lando Norris during his McLaren days.
Given Ricciardo’s age and current declining form, Lawson may become a strong contender for the 2025 seat. However, for the time being, Bayer and Co. are likely to give Ricciardo enough chances to improve his performances.
Can Liam Lawson look beyond Red Bull for his F1 future?
Although Liam Lawson is a driver Red Bull highly rate, they are unable to offer him a race seat at the moment at either their main team or their sister side. All this while Lawson seems to be getting increasingly desperate to secure a race seat in F1.
If an opportunity is unavailable at Red Bull, the Kiwi driver is open to looking elsewhere. Both Peter Bayer and Helmut Marko have confirmed that Lawson can look for other teams if Red Bull don’t offer him a seat for 2025.
However, Marko wishes that the 22-year-old should stay with the Red Bull family and consider him a part of their future plans. Given his performances last season, Lawson is a driver many teams would want to sign up.
Lawson has to face the complexities of the driver market though which is quite chaotic for the 2025 season. Many young drivers like Oliver Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, Theo Pourchaire, etc. would be in the hunt for an F1 seat. Besides, most of the current grid is looking for a contract renewal or a new team for next year.
So, for Lawson, it could be a double-edged sword. There are ample opportunities but at the same time, he could miss out due to the mega musical chairs of drivers.
