Only a couple of hours after the announcement that Daniel Ricciardo was officially fired, the VCARB team announced that Liam Lawson was taking over his position. However, the rookie immediately will receive a 10-place grid penalty in his first race as a Formula One driver! Keep on reading to discover more about why he is receiving this penalty!
Liam Lawson Gets A 10-Place Grid Penalty For Taking A New Engine!
The team has decided to put a new engine in the car for the season’s remaining races. However, this engine is outside of the team’s yearly allocation of 4. The New Zealand Rookie will get a 10-place grid penalty in the next Grand Prix as a punishment. The team principal says the grid penalty will be served in the Sprint race on Saturday. However, this is not how it works, the penalty will be served in the next full Grand Prix.
If they’re already taking a 10-grid penalty, it would be best to add more new parts before this race. The team would prevent Liam Lawson from losing more spots in future races by sacrificing this race, and giving him a relatively competitive car for the future races!
Liam Lawson’s future With Red Bull Is Not Certain
The introduction of Liam Lawson has been very rough on the Australian driver. This mainly comes from the fact that VCARB did not handle the situation with Daniel Ricciardo with the respect it deserved. So most fans are furious with the team especially after Liam Lawson announced that the team and Daniel Ricciardo knew for over 2 weeks that Singapore would be his last race.
Many people were certain that Liam Lawson would be the permanent replacement for Daniel Ricciardo and that his contract just stated he still had to race this season. However, the New Zealand rookie told some journalists that his contract is only for the 2024 season. So his seat is not guaranteed for the 2025 season.
The future of Red Bull and VCARB is not 100% certain. Max Verstappen is threatening to retire and Liam Lawson does not have a contract for the 2025 season yet!