The Formula 1 paddock is a brutal place to be for a driver and every single performance can be under intense scrutiny when it comes to contract renewal season.
With Yuki Tsunoda and Sergio Perez now signed up for another year, the number of available seats for 2025 is beginning to dwindle.
Journalist Joe Saward was in the paddock at the Canadian Grand Prix and has written on his website about the latest goings on in the driver market.
Alpine also announced ahead of the race in Montreal that Esteban Ocon would be departing at the end of the year and he’s unlikely to be the last driver let go by his current manufacturer.
Several drivers could even be in danger of losing their seats before the end of the current campaign.
Saward believes that Liam Lawson could be handed the second seat at Visa Cash App RB in place of Daniel Ricciardo after the summer break.
It would be very harsh after the £105,000-a-week just had one of his best weekends of the season, but not out of character for a brutal Red Bull setup.
Liam Lawson could replace Daniel Ricciardo during the F1 summer break
Daniel Ricciardo found himself at the centre of the conversation at the Canadian Grand Prix after some feisty comments from former world champion Jacques Villeneuve.
However, he quickly quietened his critics by securing 5 on the grid in qualifying and scoring four valuable points for RB in the race.
However, expectations were high for Ricciardo heading into the 2024 season after replacing Nyck de Vries halfway through last year and he has not met them yet.
Yuki Tsunoda has been the lead driver for the team for the majority of the campaign although he made a rare error towards the end of a tricky race.
Both drivers started the year knowing that Liam Lawson was looming in the background waiting for a race seat after impressing during his five-race run in 2023.
Lawson has a clause in his contract that either guarantees him a race seat at RB next year or allows him to join another team on the grid.
Saward believes that RB might be about to place Lawson in Ricciardo’s seat during the summer break unless his form dramatically improves.
It would be the latest in a long line of brutal decisions made by the company during their 20 years on the grid.
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Red Bull’s driver line-up could be set for another change
Talking about the situation within the Red Bull group, Saward said: “Now that Perez has re-signed with Red Bull and Yuki Tsunoda has been retained by the Visa etc Team, which closes the door he thought he might have at Audi, the question will be how the Faenza team fits three drivers into two seats.
“Tsunoda is signed, while Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson are both looking at the second seat.
“At the moment it looks like Lawson could get the drive after the summer break, but if Ricciardo suddenly starts doing World Champion-like performances, Red Bull will have a problem.
“If Red Bull does not give the seat to Lawson, he will be free to go and that rather defeats the purpose of spending huge sums of money on junior teams.”
Liam Lawson’s situation at Red Bull highlights a much bigger issue Formula 1 is facing.
The young Kiwi proved last year that he deserves a place on the grid, but Daniel Ricciardo hasn’t underperformed to the same level as others in the paddock this year.
However, the lack of available seats is becoming more and more problematic with young drivers struggling to make the final step up into F1.
Introducing at least another team, such as Andretti, would begin to resolve this. However, Formula 1 seems set in its way to maintain just 20 cars on the grid for the foreseeable future.
The post ‘At the moment’: £105k-a-week F1 driver is now in line to be replaced during the summer break – journalist appeared first on F1 Oversteer.