“We will offer him something,” Helmut Marko says about Lawson

The threat looms increasingly over Daniel Ricciardo’s shoulders. Despite finishing 9th last weekend in Austria, the Australian struggles to impress his team leaders. Helmut Marko recently expressed his concerns in the German daily Bild, highlighting Ricciardo’s lack of performance. The goal was for him to be in the second Red Bull car with outstanding performances. This seat now belongs to Sergio Perez, so this plan is no longer valid.

The sports advisor of the Austrian team had also added that the shareholders had clearly indicated that it was a junior team and that we should act accordingly. We will soon have to call upon a young driver. It could be Liam Lawson.

A strong message sent by the Austrian who, for several weeks now, has been pushing to bring Lawson to the second car at Racing Bulls. Comments that did not take long to elicit a reaction from the Australian driver.

Daniel Ricciardo’s response

« I have no particular feelings about this. I always know that what matters most in this sport is performance, that’s it. And that’s what will give me the best chance to stay here, I know it. It’s not my smile or anything else that will be decisive, it’s the work on the track. I will try to do everything I can to help my cause. »

The Australian knows he needs to do more, as he has only scored points in three of his 18 races with AlphaTauri/Racing Bulls since his return in Hungary replacing Nyck de Vries, and hopes to quickly find a sufficient rhythm to convince Red Bull’s managers to offer him a seat for 2025.

I think I have benefited from strong support from Christian [Horner, head of the Red Bull team], but also from Laurent [Mekies, head of the RB team], from everyone. They are doing what they can to keep me obviously, but at some point, it’s me in the car and I have to press the accelerator a little harder and that’s it.

Despite a strong popularity that makes him an ideal and undeniable asset in terms of marketing, the Australian, the only Red Bull driver who has not yet resigned, is on the hot seat. Since the beginning of the season, he has been mostly beaten by his teammate Yuki Tsunoda and this worries the Racing Bulls officials, including Peter Bayer, the general manager.

We do not need to develop Daniel. He joined the team to perform well and to help us with Yuki. We obviously expected a lot from him, as a very fast and experienced driver, to perform well and we still expect him to. I think he knows – we know – that he needs to perform. If he is not performing, it will be difficult to keep him in the car next year.

For Red Bull’s leaders, it is urgent to find a solution. Lawson’s contract includes a clause allowing him to leave the Austrian company if they fail to find him a spot in Formula 1 next year. With the attractiveness generated by the Sauber project, which will become Audi and is interested in the profile of the New Zealander, Red Bull could therefore lose one of its young drivers. The Austrian team will therefore have a difficult decision to make in the coming weeks.