Lawson back in Formula One

Liam Lawson will step back into a Formula 1 seat from the next round and race for the Visa Cash App RB Racing Team in the nine remaining races of 2024. The 22-year-old New Zealander will replace Australian Daniel Ricciardo alongside his former team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

Lawson, who first signed with Red Bull as a Junior driver on his 17th birthday, made his F1 debut with a successful five-race stint last year when he stood in for an injured Ricciardo.

“It feels like a long time coming but very exciting. There’s been a lot of hard work from a lot of people for a lot of years. It’s not just my dream but the dream of a lot of people around me to get a seat in the sport,” said Lawson. “It’s very exciting.”

“It’s definitely been hard at times. There’s been parts over the past couple of years, more so than not, that haven’t been so much fun. Some difficult experiences but obviously I knew it was all part of the learning process and at the end of the day if it meant I was going to get a seat eventually I was always working towards that. And the goal never changed.”

At the announcement VCARB Team Principal Laurent Mekies praised Ricciardo for his work and welcomed Lawson back into the race seat.

“Everyone here at VCARB would like to thank Daniel for his hard work across the last two seasons with us. He has brought a lot of experience and talent to the Team with a fantastic attitude, which has helped everyone to develop and foster a tight team spirit. Daniel has been a true gentleman both on and off the track and never without that smile. He will be missed, but will always hold a special place within the Red Bull family.

“I’d also like to take this opportunity to welcome Liam. He already knows the Team well. He drove for us last season, and coped well under difficult circumstances, so it’ll be a natural transition. It’s great to see young talent from within the Red Bull family make the next step. We’re looking forward to getting our heads down and focusing on the rest of the season together.”

Lawson will rekindle his F1 career at the United States Grand Prix in Austin in October in much the same way he did twelve months ago at Zandvoort when he only got one Practice session after Ricciardo’s accident before heading into qualifying and racing.

The Austin round also features a Sprint Race so Lawson will only get one session in a car he hasn’t yet driven before heading into qualifying. On top of that, Lawson’s VCARB car will get a back of the grid starting penalty due to receiving an engine change beyond the permitted number allowed throughout a season.

Lawson is then in for a quick-fire end to the season with a double set of three back-to-back races. The week following the American race is the Mexican Grand Prix followed by Brazil. Then after a fortnight break the season concludes with races in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Lawson and Tsunoda have been team-mates before. In 2019 the both raced for Team Motopark in European Formula Open, in 2020 they were team-mates in M2 Competition in the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand and they last raced together last year in AlphaTauri F1 when Lawson substituted for Ricciardo. During most of those races Lawson outscored his Japanese partner.