Marko Pressures Ricciardo as Lawson Eyes F1 Seat

As the F1 season unfolds, Dr. Helmut Marko casts doubt on Daniel Ricciardo’s future, promoting Yuki Tsunoda’s performance and hinting at a possible seat for Liam Lawson this year.

Dr. Helmut Marko doesn’t have good news for Daniel Ricciardo even before the start of the 5th Grand Prix of the year, in China.

As teams and drivers began their media day in Shanghai, the Red Bull consultant for motorsport, still responsible for Red Bull team drivers, put pressure on the Australian, highlighting how well Yuki Tsunoda was performing and adding that Liam Lawson is waiting in the wings.

“Yuki has had a good start to the season and isn’t as reckless as he was. There have only been four races, so I can’t say much yet, but he has Daniel under control, even if it was close in Japan,” Marko confided in China.

Before the F1 season, Ricciardo hoped to use RB F1 as a stepping stone to a return to Red Bull Racing.

“For now, that won’t happen. The mandate for him was clear: he needed to be faster than Yuki if he wanted a chance at that Red Bull seat. That hasn’t been the case so far. Let’s see how it evolves.”

Marko is blunt and drives the point home: he doesn’t confirm that Ricciardo has received an ultimatum but declares he would love to see Lawson in the car!

“With Liam Lawson as reserve driver, we have a strong driver who could race for another team if he doesn’t get a seat with us in 2025. Therefore, it would be very interesting for us to see him in F1 this year and get an even clearer picture of his potential. But it’s a complex issue, and we need to see how everything evolves.”