“Pivotal” moment before Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 axe pinpointed
A key moment that played into Red Bull's decision to axe Danꦯiel Ricciardo has been theorised.
168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Daniel Ricciardo’s crash at last year’s Dutch Grand Prix has been pinpointed as a “pivotal” moment that determined his F1 future.
Following the Singapore Grand Prix, it was confirmed that the eight-time grand prix winner has been replaced by 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Liam Lawson at Red Bull’s junior team for the remainder of thඣe 2024ꦏ F1 season.
Ricciardo returned to RB midway through last year with the aim of replacing 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Sergio Perez at the senior team, but his comeback was hampered just two races in when 🥃he broke his hand in a crash at Zandvoort.
The 35-year-old Australian missed five races while he recovered from the injury, opening the ജdoor for Lawson to impress as he deputise🀅d in Ricciardo’s absence, scoring two points in Singapore with a brilliant drive to ninth.
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, ex-grand prix driver turned pundit Anthony Davidson reckons Ricciardo’s incident and injury lay-of𝔉f ultimately proved key in how events have transpired.
“Any driver will kick themselves after any incident no matter how lightly you get away with it, but I think that moment was really pivotal tಞo his future at the team and his existence in Formula 1 as a whole,” Davidson said of Ricciardo’s crash at Zandvoort last year.
“It allowed a young driver, hungry, snapping at his heels, that chance to get behind the wheel. And like we’ve seen with [Franco] Colapinto, you give these young drivers a sniff of𝓰 a chance in desperation, they deliver.
“That’s exactly what we’ve ౠgot with Liam Lawson. Since then, he’s probably been pestering Helmut Marko: ‘see the job I did, I can do better than that, put me back in the car,𓆏 otherwise I’m off’.
“I think that last bit is crucial as well. I feel like if it wasn’t for Ricciardo moving aside now for Lawson, I fear for their sake 🥃that they would have lost Lawson to💛 another team. Maybe Audi, who knows. But he needed to go somewhere and I think Red Bull could sense that.
“It’s a brutal sport. Who’s the future? Is it Ricciardo, or is it Lawson? Well, unfortunately for Ricciardo, Lawson is younger than him. So it’s just a game𒐪 of numbers.”
Lawson has six races alongside 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Yuki Tsunoda in what is effectively an audition for a full-time 𒀰RB seat - and potential Red Bull drive - next ✨year.
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