The F1 community celebrated Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 comeback with Red Bull’s Junior team after the McLaren heartbreak like it was Christmas, overjoyed with the fact that the funniest and arguably coolest driver on the grid is back. The comeback, however, hasn’t gone as planned. With drivers like Liam Lawson waiting on the sidelines, the former Ferrari boss slams Red Bull’s decision to keep Daniel Ricciardo amid the ongoing struggles.

Liam Lawson replaced the injured Daniel Ricciardo for a few races last year and impressed the whole paddock, including the people at Red Bull. The HoneyBadger, on the other hand, struggled throughout 2023. The struggles have continued ever since going into 2024, and despite Ricciardo’s Miami Sprint P4, Yuki Tsunoda has been the better-performing driver at VCARB. 

And now, Peter Windsor has come out to wonder why Red Bull decided to keep Ricciardo and not put Liam Lawson alongside Yuki Tsunoda as he believed that the New Zealander had done enough to deserve the VCARB drive. Windsor in his YouTube video said, “You’ve got to say, Red Bull probably missed having a treat by not having Liam Lawson in the car.”

He continued, “I don’t want to be disrespectful to Daniel Ricciardo but, putting aside the reality that he’s not there with Yuki apart from one or two occasions, in general, he’s not there, the whole point surely of that team is to bring along the next generation of Red Bull drivers and they’ve had Liam Lawson in the car. Oddly they chose to run Ricciardo for this year. It seems strange because Liam had done enough to prove his ability.”

However, for the 2025 season, Daniel Ricciardo’s seat might be in danger, all because of a secret clause in Liam Lawson’s contract.

A secret clause in Liam Lawson’s contract puts Daniel Ricciardo at risk

With a driver of Liam Lawson’s caliber waiting on the sidelines and so much going on in the driver’s market, one cannot help but think about the possibility of the New Zealander moving to a team outside of the Red Bull family. Indeed, there is a clause in his contract that allows Lawson to move away from the Red Bull family if the team is unable to provide him with a seat for the upcoming season. Red Bull wouldn’t want Lawson to move, hence putting underperforming Ricciardo’s seat at risk.

Joe Saward in his blog revealed, “The thing about Lawson is that his Red Bull contract stipulates that he must be given a race drive in 2025 or he can walk away to a rival team. Some other teams are interested, so Red Bull must decide what to do and logic suggests that they might as well sign him for next year and start training him up straight away, hoping that he will score more than the two current drivers”

Do you think Liam Lawson will move away from the Red Bull family or will he be given a seat at VCARB?