Yesterday, RB has confirmed rumours that had been going around for a long time. Liam Lawson will replace Daniel Ricciardo in the team for the remainder of the 2024 season.

The young talent from New Zealand will make his F1 return during the next Grand Prix weekend in Austin after almost a year of being only a reserve driver for Red Bull. 

During last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, team principal Laurent Mekies stated that ‘nothing had been decided so far’ about the Ricciardo case, concerning the team's future plans.

However, Lawson indicated that he was aware of his role in taking Ricciardo’s place before the last two races.

“It now finally does feel real, obviously I knew about it for the last, probably, two weeks, but until it’s out there to the world, it obviously doesn’t ever really feel set in stone,” Lawson said.

“I couldn’t tell anybody.

“It had been the plan for a long time now, where this was where I was leading.

“Obviously I had a contract date that needed to be fulfilled so basically it was going towards this way, and then a couple of weeks ago they told me this is what was going to happen. And then basically not long after that, it was set in stone.”

Lawson, who filled in for Ricciardo in five races last year due to the Australian’s wrist injury, expressed that it didn't feel right to be in the RB garage in Singapore last weekend given the circumstances.

“Singapore was definitely not an enjoyable weekend for me just because obviously we all knew what was coming,” he said.

“At the same time, Daniel has always been very good to me in a lot of ways when I drove last year.

“Even this season, he’s always been somebody that I’ve never felt in competition with him or anything like that. He never made it feel like that.

“So it wasn’t a nice feeling. But obviously this for me is, I get one shot at F1 and it’s come now and I’m obviously grateful for that opportunity. But now I need to take it with both hands. And at the same time, he said the same thing to me and he said ‘you know you need to you need to make the most of it’,” he concluded.

Due to Lawson securing the full-time seat already mid-season, RB is very likely to extend his contract through the 2025 season.