Liam Lawson has revealed that he was told he would be returning to Formula 1 in 2024 as Daniel Ricciardo‘s replacement at RB two weeks before the announcement.
Lawson will compete alongside incumbent Yuki Tsunoda across the remaining six rounds this season with the view to landing a permanent seat with RB next season.
The New Zealander excelled when he deputised at five races with the Faenza-based squad last term, but his impressive stand-in outings didn’t grant him a 2025 drive.
However, Red Bull’s decision to drop Ricciardo prior to the ongoing season concluding has granted Lawson another sustained run with the outfit’s second-string team.
READ MORE: Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo was aware he could lose RB F1 drive
But while there have been rumours regarding when Ricciardo was informed, Lawson has admitted that he knew about his promotion before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
“It now finally does feel real, obviously I knew about it for the last, probably, two weeks, but until it’s out there to the world, it obviously doesn’t ever really feel set in stone,” he told the New Zealand Herald. “I couldn’t tell anybody.”
He added: “It had been the plan for a long time now, where this was where I was leading.
“Obviously I had a contract date that needed to be fulfilled so basically it was going towards this way, and then a couple of weeks ago they told me this is what was going to happen.
“And then basically not long after that, it was set in stone.”
Lawson admits to unease in RB garage
Lawson has conceded that there was some unease in the RB garage in Singapore last weekend once it became clear that a mid-season driver swap was in the works.
“Singapore was definitely not an enjoyable weekend for me just because obviously we all knew what was coming,” he added.
“At the same time, Daniel has always been very good to me in a lot of ways when I drove last year.
“Even this season, he’s always been somebody that I’ve never felt in competition with him or anything like that. He never made it feel like that.
“So it wasn’t a nice feeling. But obviously this for me is, I get one shot at F1 and it’s come now and I’m obviously grateful for that opportunity.
“But now I need to take it with both hands. And at the same time, he said the same thing to me and he said ‘you know you need to you need to make the most of it’.”
Lawson expressed that he possesses “a huge amount of respect for how he dealt with everything because I can’t really imagine that.”
Lawson praises Ricciardo’s approach
Lawson has praised how Ricciardo dealt with the questioning on his F1 prospects, adding that he retains a “huge amount of respect for how he dealt with everything”.
“It’s a similar position I was in last year, but obviously the guy is just a lot more public, a lot more famous than I am.
“So he’s getting a lot of questions and trying to sidestep those he did a very good job.”
READ MORE: Logical outcome, farcical handling: Red Bull marred Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 exit
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