One of the main topics within Formula One news over the past few weeks has been the future of Daniel Ricciardo within Formula One. He was brought back as a driver of Alpha Tauri, now known as VCARB, to eventually replace Sergio Perez in the Red Bull seat. However, he never was moved to the Red Bull team, and most recently his future within F1 was questioned.
Yesterday evening VCARB team principal posted an official statement on their X page, thanking Daniel Ricciardo for everything he brought to the team over the past years. This was one of the only things that the team announced publicly after Daniel Ricciardo’s last race.
VCARB Immediately Replace Daniel With Liam Lawson
Only a couple of hours later a new post was posted on VCARB’s X page, welcoming Liam Lawson as the new driver for the remainder of the season. It was introduced that Yuki and Liam would be fighting for points over the next few races, which many people considered to be a “dig” at Daniel Ricciardo’s performance in the team.
There were not many people against the introduction of Liam Lawson as a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo. However, with the way that the team decided to handle things, many fans will be angry with VCARB and will unfortunately also be angry with Liam who just wants to start his F1 career!
Daniel Ricciardo Deserved A Better Goodbye
Daniel Ricciardo might not have been a world champion, however, he has won multiple Grand Prix. He also has grown to be one of the most liked drivers by any Formula One fan. Even all drivers on the grid consider him one of the most fun drivers to be around.
This is why many fans and drivers are quite surprised by how Daniel was treated after his last race. There were no team celebrations or radio messages broadcasted to let fans know that he would lose his seat. Throughout the week journalists kept asking questions about his future, which he couldn’t answer truthfully. But there was no support from his team in any of these situations.
Eventually, he stayed the longest in the media pen after the Singapore Grand Prix. He even gave some journalists an interview of nearly 15 minutes. Afterwards, he headed to his room at the VCARB team centre and stayed in there alone. Later he was the last driver to leave the Singapore track. On his way out he took pictures with fans and even gave his hat away to one of these fans. In the end, he left the track all by himself.