Revealed: What Daniel Ricciardo said to his VCARB F1 replacement Liam Lawson

Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson

Granted a shot at securing a place on the F1 2025 grid, Liam Lawson was urged to grasp this opportunity by the driver he replaced at Red Bull VCARB, Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo returned to the F1 grid with Red Bull‘s second team midway through 2023 as the replacement for Nyck de Vries, but heading into the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, speculation was rife that Ricciardo would experience the reverse, with rumours pointing towards this being his final race with the team, and perhaps in Formula 1.

Daniel Ricciardo urged Liam Lawson to ‘make the most’ of this

And on the Thursday following the Singapore GP, confirmation arrived that Ricciardo was out and Red Bull reserve Liam Lawson was in at VCARB, the Kiwi given the final six rounds of F1 2024 to force his way into Red Bull’s F1 2025 driver plans across their two teams.

Lawson was embedded in Ricciardo’s side of the garage at Singapore, and having known for “two weeks” that he would be taking Ricciardo’s seat as of the United States GP, he admitted that “Singapore was definitely not an enjoyable weekend”.

But, as has since emerged following the race weekend, Ricciardo was also aware of his fate, and Lawson revealed that the eight-time race winner encouraged him to “make the most” of this golden opportunity.

“It wasn’t a nice feeling, but obviously this for me, I get one shot at F1 and it’s come now,” Lawson continued when speaking with Newstalk ZB.

“And I’m obviously grateful for that opportunity, but I now need to take it with both hands.

“And at the same time, he’s said the same thing to me, and he said: ‘You need to make the most of it.’”

Where did it all go wrong for Daniel Ricciardo?

Time runs out on Daniel Ricciardo’s fairytale Red Bull F1 finale

What happened to Daniel Ricciardo? The compelling theories to explain his sharp F1 decline

Put to Lawson that Ricciardo appears to have been ‘exceedingly good’ about the situation publicly, he was asked if the same has been true behind closed doors with him.

“He has,” Lawson confirmed, who went on to praise the way that Ricciardo handled the Singapore GP weekend, facing constant questions about his future without being able to confirm his F1 exit, Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko having claimed that a “a variety of factors and obligations” dictated the timing of that announcement.

“He did a very good job on the weekend,” Lawson continued. “Honestly, I have a huge amount of respect for how he dealt with everything.

“Because I can’t really imagine what that… It’s a similar position I was in last year, but obviously, the guy is 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 at.”

Read next: Liam Lawson set for FIA grid penalty before first F1 2024 race