Liam Lawson reveals what Daniel Ricciardo told him when RB decision was made

Liam Lawson has praised Daniel Ricciardo for how he handled the RB driver swap when discussing the situation at the Singapore Grand Prix.

While it wasn’t announced during the Singapore weekend, rumblings from Red Bull were clear that Liam Lawson would replace Ricciardo from the next race.

This meant that the Australian didn’t have an official send off.

In a number of post-race interviews, Ricciardo was visibly emotional when talking to the media.

Lawson will race for RB alongside Yuki Tsunoda for the final six races of the year as he looks to impress Red Bull to potentially get an opportunity at the senior team in 2025.

In an interview with Formula 1, Lawson recalled a conversation with Ricciardo during the Singapore weekend.

“Luckily he’s a great guy,” Lawson said. “He knew it was nothing to do with me. And that’s probably the thing with Daniel for the whole time we’ve been in this situation.

“Even for the last 12 months, it’s never felt like we were in direct competition as much as we all are in the sport in some way.

“With Daniel, it never really felt like that, he was always good to me, he was always open to giving advice when I was driving. He was good to me throughout the year, in any way he could be.

“So, it never felt like we were in direct competition for a seat. We were also at very different point in our career, so that’s something that probably helped that.”

Lawson also revealed a key point of the conversation and what Ricciardo said.

Lawson added: “I went and saw him and said obviously sorry about this whole situation as it’s not nice, and sorry you had to go through it.

“But he said there’s obviously nothing against me, and he said ‘you get one shot at F1, make sure you take it’ – and he said ‘good luck’.”

Ricciardo is unlikely to return to F1 after leaving RB.

The eight-time grand prix winner has no options for next year and has been clear in wanting to only be in F1 to race at the front.