OPINION: Lawson for Ricciardo – a fair call, unfairly handled

It’s official, Daniel Ricciardo is out of a drive in Formula 1, effective immediately. A year ago, he was trying to get back as quickly as possible from a broken hand, aiming to earn himself a spot at Red Bull at some stage in future. The form Sergio Perez has shown for the majority of this season certainly opened the door for Ricciardo to walk though, but he couldn’t take that opportunity. Four point-scoring finishes, only three of them in grands prix, and being comfortably outscored — and regularly outqualified — by teammate Yuki Tsunoda meant he did not make a compelling enough case to be promoted in Perez’s place during the summer break. And as soon as he failed to do that, the writing was on the wall. Liam Lawson had made himself impossible to ignore with his performances at late notice as Ricciardo’s substitute last year, and Tsunoda was doing the job in the early part of this. The consistency and spark just never quite returned for Ricciardo, and it is totally understandable that Red Bull decided it was time to see if Lawson could be a future driver for the main team. But less understandable is the way it went about it. As a veteran of 257 race starts, eight victories (seven of them with Red Bull) and 32 podiums, Ricciardo has got the pedigree that shows why he was being given a chance to earn another shot in race-winning machinery. The fact he also took on a reserve role at Red Bull, and was willing to try and prove himself in the RB, displays what that environment meant to him. But over the course of four days in Singapore, his demeanor went from saying he was expecting a decision on 2025 and to see out the rest of this season, to fearing he’d raced an F1 car for the last time. “The decision I expect is for next year,” Ricciardo said a week ago. “Obviously crazy things have happened in this sport. I’m also not going to stand here too boastful and confident and ‘oh yeah yeah.’ Like, I believe I will be , but let’s obviously see.” By Sunday night, an emotional Ricciardo all but confirmed he was out. “I tried to obviously enjoy it,” he said after getting out of the car. “A little bit like the end of ’22 at McLaren — obviously I was aware maybe that was my last race, so I tried to enjoy that. “I think I acknowledged also why I came back into the sport — sometimes you see the big picture and I always said I don’t want to be a guy who’s just here on the grid and fighting for a point every now and then, which has kinda been how this year’s gone. “Obviously this year the purpose was to try and do good enough to get back into Red Bull and fight for wins again, see if I’ve still got it. I felt like I came up short with that, so I think it’s then, ‘OK, what else am I fighting for here? What else is going to give me fulfillment?’ “I’ve been a young driver as well and at some point I don’t just want to take up space, also. Obviously you have to be selfish, but for me if I’m not able to fight at the front with Red Bull I have to ask myself, what am I staying on the grid for? That’s something I’ve also come to peace with.” But what was so strange was that Red Bull and RB had not confirmed Ricciardo’s departure at that stage, and he had clearly only become aware of how likely it was as the weekend evolved. There was no ability to plan anything, to say goodbye properly, and have a race when he and everyone else knew for certain that he was getting behind the wheel for the last time. Ricciardo deserved better than that. The Red Bull exit in 2018 might always haunt him, but Ricciardo’s subsequent spell at Renault was still strong. It’s his results since leaving Renault, however, that make it very tough to argue that he deserves his place on the grid over someone like Lawson any longer. And replacing him mid-season is also understandable. If you’ve got the replacement ready and waiting, under contract and available, and you’re going to put them in next season anyway, why not get started? But Ricciardo deserved a proper send-off. A chance to enjoy the moment fully at the end of an impressive career. He’s a driver who has done so much for the popularity of the sport and Red Bull within it, and at his best he was electrifying. So, the least he should have received was the ability to make an announcement before his final race and step out of the cockpit for the last time with clarity. There’s a knock-on impact on Lawson, too, who hasn’t been able to enjoy the promotion in the same way. Rumors flying around that led to criticism of Red Bull — and fans upset at the prospect of losing one of the most popular drivers on the grid — eventually added up to a lack of space to actually celebrate the promotion of another exciting young talent, presumably because it might seem tasteless against that backdrop. If this is indeed the end of the F1 road for Ricciardo, he should have been able to retire at the very least slightly on his own terms. Instead, it came down to a short Instagram message: “I’ve loved this sport my whole life. It’s wild and wonderful and been a journey. “To the teams and individuals that have played their part, thank you. To the fans who love the sport sometimes more than me, haha, thank you. It’ll always have its highs and lows but it’s been fun and truth be told I wouldn’t change it. “Until the next adventure.” What that next adventure is remains to be seen, but it’s a real shame the last race went down without so many of his fans really knowing it.