“Pivotal” moment before Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 axe pinpointed

A key moment that pla𝓀yed into Red Bull's d🌞ecision to axe Daniel Ricciardo has been theorised.

Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo

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Following the Singapore Grand Prix, it was confirmed that the eight-time grand prix winner has been replaced by 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Liam Lawson at🐻 Red Bull’s junior team for the remainder of the 2024 F1 season.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 door for Lawson to impress as he deputised in Ricciardo’s absence, sꦚcoring two points in Singapore with a brilliant drive to ninth.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, ex-grand prix driver turnﷺed pundit Anthony Davidson reckons Ricciardo’s incident and injury lay-off 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 to his future at the team 🐼and his existence in Formula 1 as a whole,” Davidson said of Ricciardo’s crash at Zandvoort last year.

Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand in a crash
Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand in a crash

“It allowed a young driver, hungry, snapping at his heels, that chance to get behind th𝕴e wheel. And like we’ve seen with [Franco] Colapinto, you give these young drivers a sniff of a chance in desperation, they deliver.

“ཧThat’s exactly what we’ve got 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, 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, unfortunateᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚly for Ricciardo, Lawson is younger than him. So it’s just a game 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 RB seat - and potenti🌟al Red Bull drive - next year.&n𝄹bsp;

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