There something of a rhythm to the way the Formula One team champions go about their business. Drivers have come and gone over the years in ruthless fashion as the sister team known as Toro Rosso, Alpha Tauri and now RB has facilitated a number of mid-season rotations.
Back in 2007 Sebastian Vettel was promoted from reserve driver to replace Scott Speed for the Hungarian Grand Prix at Toro Rosso. He continued for the remainder of the year before receiving a full time contract with the team for the following year.
Vettel started the 2008 season in terrible fashion being the only driver failing to complete a Grand Prix after four rounds of the championship. Yet he came good in a rain affected Monza, becoming the youngest driver to claimant F1 pole position going on to win the race with ease from.
Spy shot of RB20 testing at Silverstone
Red Bull history of mid-season driver changes
Max Verstappen too was to benefit from Red Bull’s penchant to switch out drivers performing badly mid way through a championship. In 2016 following the Russian Grand Prix, Max was switched up to the Red Bull team while Daniil Kvyat following his home race was demoted to Toro Rosso.
Over the years Red Bull have been accused of acting prematurely when ditching or switching drivers around and last year it was the return of Daniel Ricciardo to the fold after a Silverstone test at the expense of Nyck De Vries.
Today Liam Lawson tested at Silverstone for Red Bull and the similarities are too similar to ignore. With just two races before the midsummer break, Ricciardo was promoted and the indication from Dr. Helmut Marko is Lawson is in place to follow suit.
The test is actually an FIA approved “filming day”, one of two each team are allowed during the competitive season. Last year saw Ricciardo unusually allowed to test in a current car, the regulations providing only for drivers to test in a car two iterations old. Yet Pirelli have gained permission to run mid-season tyre tests and given the significant changes the cars have undergone – these are allowed in the current car.
Lawson test similar to Ricciardo’s
Ricciardo performed his test just days after the British Grand Prix and Christian Horner revealed later his lap times would have placed him on the from row for the race.
Lawson has performed today a similar test in a current car with prototype Pirelli tyres which differ from this used for this season. That said the drivers may deliver some benchmarking laps with the current rubber, though the exact provision for this has not been made clear.
The New Zealand driver was restricted to 200km behind the wheel which is roughly about 33 laps of the Northamptonshire circuit. As yet there is no information as to how Lawson has performed yet many F1 observers believe Red Bull will use his performance as the catalyst to make imminent driver line up changes.
Christian Horner recently described Sergio Perez’s string of six races scoring just 15 points as “unsustainable” although the Red Bull boss said in advance of the track session today:
Bottas rejects Mercedes drive for 2025
Marko says Ricciardo plan over
“Those tests have been planned for some time so they’re not something that have just sprung up, they’ve been planned for a couple of months now,” said Horner to Sky Sports.
He also described the event as “an aero evaluation” though its inconceivable the data will not be scrutinised beyond the performance of the various components Red Bull fit to the car.
Dr, Marko candidly revealed before the Austrian grand Prix that the Shareholders of Red Bull are keen for Lawson to get into one of there cars and sooner rather than later. He also was open about a difference of opinion between him and Christian Horner over the future of Daniel Ricciardo suggesting the Red Bull boss favoured moving up the Australian to replace Sergio Perez.
“Ricciardo should be two or three tenths faster than Yuki Tsunoda, but at the moment things are not going the way team boss Horner imagined,” Marko told Kronen Zeitung.
Ferrari bleak future as new design faults appear
Daniel says he has Horner’s support
Clearly Marko’s preference would be to ditch Ricciardo for Lawson at RB, yet Daniel recently revealed he retained the support of Christian Horner. “I think I’ve had good support from, you mentioned Christian [Horner] but [also] from Laurent [Mekies, RB team boss], from everyone,” although Dr, Marko was not mentioned by name.”
The 81 year old Austrian also point ted out the fact that Sergio Perez was awarded a new two year contract early this season, which he claims finished the notion of Ricciardo replacing the Mexican.
Speaking ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Dr. Marko revealed: “The goal was that with exceptional performances he [Ricciardo] would be in the frame for Red Bull Racing. That seat now belongs to Sergio Perez, so that plan is void.”
Schumacher McLaren drive delivers result
Horner refuses to back Checo long term
Yet Christian Horner refuses to back Checo’s future at the team admitting to assembled media in Silverstone: “He knows it’s unsustainable to not be scoring points, we have to be scoring points in that car and he knows that. He knows his role and his target and so nobody is more eager than Checo to get back and find his form again.”
Reports emerged over the weekend there is a clause in Perez’s contract that should he fall more than 100 points behind his team mate his contract can be made void by the team. The Mexican is currently 137 points behind Verstappen and with two races before the summer break that deficit will not fall below the magic three figures cited.
Of course all options are available following today’s D-Day test for the world champions. Ricciardo could be replaced by Lawson and Perez remains in situe. The Aussie or Yuki Tsunoda could replace Checo while Lawson gets his chance at RB, although the possibility of Lawson replacing Perez direct seems remote even for the team that likes to shock with its mid-season driver shakeups.
Williams boss indicates mid-season driver change imminent
The 2024 Formula One season has been dominated off track with back door conversations between teams and drivers like none in recent history. At least two of the current field will be leaving the sport given rookie Oliver Bearman has been confirmed by Haas F1 and Dr. Helmut Marko insists Liam Lawson will be full time in an RB car either before the season finale or certainly for 2025.
Yet despite Lewis Hamilton kicking off the ‘silly season’ before a wheel turned in anger, matters have dragged on to the point where the normal time frame for deciding on next years driver line up has resumed.
With just two races before the summer break is upon us the pieces of the jigsaw are set soon to fall intro place. The drama in 2022 began with Sebastian Vettel announcing his retirement at the last race before August, then just one day after the summer break began Fernando Alonso decided he was leaving Alpine for Aston Martin…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
The car maketh the man – not the man maketh the car
Hamilton & Schumacher two examples
– Alonso maybe the exception and possibly Verstappen
Lawson deserves a shot now Ricciardo has disappointingly, not made the car.
Unfortunately RedBull is more likely to do a driver/team swap between Perez and Ricciardo than just outright replace Perez with Lawson like they should…RedBull has too many politics and for whatever reason Horner is still in love with Danny and can’t see past his bias of kinship. Ricciardo still has not shown any significant speed and Tsunoda appears to have stopped developing altogether. Both AlphaTauri drivers have not delivered. Lawson should join Max to take the constructors battle to McLaren.