Red Bull given a clear driver plan after sacking Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo has lost his seat at RB to Liam Lawson with immediate effect, with the New Zealander stepping in from the United States Grand Prix, giving him six races to show his worth before the end of the season. 

The decision had been coming for weeks, with RacingNews365 able to confirm the final reckoning for Ricciardo came in the few days between Sunday in Azerbaijan and media day on Thursday in Singapore. 

Put simply, Ricciardo had not been performing for RB, with too many troughs and not nearly enough peaks for a team fighting in the midfield for every point, but then again, so has Sergio Perez in the top Red Bull team, locked in what seems to be a losing battle for the F1 constructors' crown. 

Perez has scored just 144 points to Max Verstappen's 331 - a hit rate of just 43.50% compared to 84.94% by Oscar Piastri to Lando Norris at McLaren, who enjoy a 41-point lead in the standings.

The hope at Red Bull was that Ricciardo's appointment at what was then AlphaTauri in mid-2023 would be enough to increase the pressure on Perez to get him performing to the level it needed.

But aside from the first five races of 2024 where he banked four podiums, Perez's form has flatlined into what he always was: a top-level midfield driver in a car capable of winning multiple grands prix and world championships. 

Aside from fourth in the Miami sprint this season, Ricciardo's best result is eighth but he appeared to know the game was up and in removing him from the seat and promoting Lawson, Red Bull has opened up its driver pool and again put pressure on Perez.

Lawson is only on a six-race contract with RB, with no mention in the official announcement of his plans for 2025. 

It can therefore be read that Lawson is being evaluated for a 2025 Red Bull drive, and as Max Verstappen is not going anywhere just yet, Perez's seat is the one Lawson is being measured for.

If he out-performs the known quantity of Yuki Tsunoda by a clear margin, Red Bull's decision will be made, and as for the new contract Perez signed before the Canadian Grand Prix, they can always be broken if the parties want it to.

Young talent waiting in the wings

Indeed, the promotion of Lawson to Red Bull for 2025 would again get the pipeline of Red Bull young driver talent flowing and a rookie in alongside Tsunoda who, despite his strong pace, is not Christian Horner's cup of tea and will never be promoted to Red Bull. 

If Lawson is considered an F1 driver now, the next cab off the rank is Isack Hadjar, currently just 4.5 points behind championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto in the F2 standings. 

Marko has big plans for Hadjar - as his comments after his victory in the Belgian GP feature race attest: "He has the potential for Formula 1. We will see how everything develops, but he will definitely play a role. It could be that, like Lawson, he will spend a year as a test and simulator driver," Marko wrote in his Speedweek column.

In turn, should Lawson go to Red Bull, and Hadjar to RB, this opens the door for another rising star in Arvid Lindblad, a 16-year-old Briton who is being watched closely. 

Lindblad is not currently eligible for an F1 race seat and so must bide his time, but in dumping Ricciardo, Red Bull has shaken up its driver pool, and for the first time in a while, a clear, coherent plan looks to be in place.

For Ricciardo, a driver who did so much for Red Bull, his sacking might appear harsh, but he broke the fundamental rule expected of a Red Bull driver. He simply did not perform and get results, and as we know all too well, that only leads to one thing.