Major blow for Daniel Ricciardo's replacement Liam Lawson ahead of his F1 return

Daniel Ricciardo's replacement, Liam Lawson, would serve a grid penalty in his first F1 race in 2024. The New Zealander's RB car would undergo an engine swap at the US GP due to which, he will receive a grid penalty in the sprint race.

A few days after the Singapore GP, RB announced they would replace Ricciardo with their reserve driver, Liam Lawson. Ricciardo's departure from the team was rumored for several months, especially due to his subpar performance and failure to outscore his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda in 2024.

Lawson will now be racing for RB for the remainder of the 2024 F1 season. His first race will be at Austin (US GP) after a few weeks. However, he will not have the best result possible in the race.

Speaking to Autosport's sister website, Motorsport-Total, Red Bull boss, Helmut Marko, revealed that Lawson's performance and result in the US will not be too relevant since he will be getting a 10-place grid penalty in the Grand Prix's sprint race.

"The first [race], I think, won't be relevant because he has an engine penalty. Ten places in the sprint race, so that doesn't exactly make life easier in Austin," Marko said.

In the past, Lawson replaced Ricciardo in 2023, when the latter suffered a hand injury at the Dutch GP. He suffered this accident a few races after he replaced Nyck de Vries, who was struggling in F1. The Kiwi raced in five races and scored two points in Singapore, finishing ninth.

As of now, neither Lawson nor RB has confirmed whether he will stay with the team for the 2025 F1 season.

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Liam Lawson is aware of the challenges that lay ahead after he joins F1 mid-season

Liam Lawson recently talked about the challenges he could face after entering F1 mid-season by replacing Daniel Ricciardo.

Speaking on the Newstalk ZB YouTube channel, he said that though he is happy to start his F1 journey, he is well aware that only six races are left in the season. He explained how he would be racing against already seasoned drivers, who are in tune with their machines.

On the other hand, he admitted that he has not driven or raced a lot this year, which could affect his performance.

“Obviously I’m very happy, but it’s six rounds left in the season, so I’m coming in at a difficult time,” he said. “It’s going to be a very challenging point. All these [drivers] have done three quarters of a season now, so I have to try and compete with that – at tracks that I haven’t done [driven at] as well," Lawson said.

“I’ve spoken to my parents, obviously, and spoken to everybody that’s been behind me on this journey. It’s very, very special, but we don’t have much time to really let it sink in – we’ve got to get straight to work,” he added.

Liam Lawson will now be seen racing alongside Yuki Tsunoda in RB at the 2024 F1 US GP.