For Lawson, it is his first engagement as a regular driver in Formula 1. The 22-year-old New Zealander has been part of the Red Bull young talent program for a long time. He made his Formula 1 debut in the Netherlands for AlphaTauri in 2023 when he took over for the injured Ricciardo. “He already knows the team well. He drove for us last year and withstood the pressure under difficult circumstances, so it will be a natural transition,” said RB team boss Laurent Mekies.
Ricciardo’s time in Formula 1, however, may have finally come to an end. “I did my best, but the fairytale happy ending didn’t happen,” the 35-year-old explained recently in Singapore. “But I also have to look back at what I have achieved in 13 years, and I am proud of it.”
Ricciardo made his Formula 1 debut with HRT in 2011. He drove for Red Bull from 2014 to 2018, initially for a year alongside four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. After engagements with Renault and McLaren, he replaced the Dutchman Nyck de Vries at the sister team AlphaTauri in the summer of 2023 and was hoping for a chance to drive for Red Bull Racing again. That didn’t work out for the man from Perth, who is privately in a relationship with Heidi Berger, a daughter of Gerhard Berger.
In Singapore, Ricciardo contested his 257th Formula 1 Grand Prix and once again put himself at the service of the Red Bull team by stealing the fastest lap from McLaren driver Lando Norris. The Englishman was therefore unable to score another point in his World Cup race to catch up with Max Verstappen. For 2025, only Sauber has a free cockpit, which will probably go to Valtteri Bottas.