Liam Lawson speaks out on Daniel Ricciardo F1 exit with ‘not a nice feeling’ admission

Liam Lawson has admitted it was not a “nice feeling” to be in the Singapore paddock watching Daniel Ricciardo knowing that he would replace him.

Red Bull confirmed what many had expected was coming on Thursday when Ricciardo was dropped in favour of the 22-year-old Lawson.

Liam Lawson reveals ‘not good’ feelings in Singapore pit lane

While the rest of the world was kept waiting, Lawson revealed that he knew the switch was coming two weeks ago and that led to a bad feeling in the paddock on Sunday.

As Ricciardo raced what many expect will be his last race in F1, Lawson was in the VCARB garage, knowing that he would replace the Australian for the next grand prix in Austin.

“Not good, honestly,” he told Newstalk ZB when asked how it felt to be there. “Singapore was definitely not an enjoyable weekend for me.

“Just because obviously, we all knew what was sort of coming and at the same time, Daniel has always been very good to me, and in a lot of ways, when I drove last year and then 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 I get one shot at F1 and it’s come now and I’m obviously grateful for that opportunity, but I now need to take it with both hands, and at the same time, he said ‘you need to make the most of it.”

Lawson went on to say he had a “huge amount of respect” for how Ricciardo conducted himself at the weekend and said he knew what it was like to lose a seat due to his experience last year.

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

“Because I can’t really imagine what [that was like]. It’s a similar position [to what] I was in last year. But obviously, there’s a lot more publicity, [he 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.”

Lawson also stated that testing days he did at Silverstone and Monza earlier this year were not a ‘make or break’ situation to see if he would get the seat.

“They were all evaluation days and they were designed to put lots of pressure on me and that was basically for an event like this. Where they to throw me in a bit like last year, throw me in mid-season, they needed to know that I’d somewhat perform.”

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