Ricciardo has been dumped by RB with immediate effect, with Lawson set to replace him in the final six races of the season.
Confirmation of the much-expected change was made on Thursday evening and followed intense speculation in Marina Bay last weekend.
“Singapore was definitely not an enjoyable weekend for me,” Lawson admitted to Newstalk ZB in New Zealand.
“We all knew what was sort of coming. And, you know, at the same time, Daniel has always been very good to me, in a lot of ways.
“When I drove last year and then even this season, he’s always been somebody that there’s never been… I’ve never felt sort of in competition with him or anything like that. He never made it feel like that.
“So it wasn’t a nice feeling.”
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Lawson has worked as reserve driver for both RB (AlphaTauri) and Red Bull Racing since 2022, travelling to events and even substituting for Ricciardo when the Australian was injured last season.
The New Zealander is highly rated within the Red Bull framework, and enjoys strong support from Helmut Marko.
With Ricciardo overlooked as a potential replacement for Sergio Perez mid-season, the writing was largely on the wall for the 35-year-old.
That has seen him moved aside for Lawson, giving Marko and Christian Horner six races to evaluate the 22-year-old ahead of the 2025 season.
“It had been the plan for a long time now, where this was sort of where it was leading,” Lawson said of his mid-season promotion.
“Obviously I had a contract date that needed to be sort of fulfilled.
“And then a couple of weeks ago, basically they told me, ‘This is what was going to happen,’ and then basically, not long after that, it was basically set in stone.”
An option within Lawson’s contract, which would have allowed Red Bull to part ways with the Kiwi, expired on the Sunday of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
By retaining him, the squad was then obliged to offer him a race contract for 2025.
Armed with that knowledge, continuing with Ricciardo made little sense.
It created a difficult weekend in Singapore for the eight-time race winner, who faced constant questioning about his future.
“He did a very good job on the weekend,” Lawson said of Ricciardo.
“Honestly, I have a huge amount of respect for how he dealt with everything.
“I can’t really imagine what that.. it’s a similar position I was in last year but obviously the guy is a lot more famous than I am, so he’s getting a lot of questions and trying to sidestep those.
“He did a very good job.”
Lawson’s promotion after the Singapore Grand Prix comes a year after he was told he would not be racing in 2024.
Ahead of last year’s race in Marina Bay, the New Zealander was told Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda had been retained, leaving him on the sidelines again.
“I’ll never forget that feeling last year,” Lawson confessed.
“I’d gone into the week and just had my absolute best quali, and I got told then, basically that I wouldn’t be driving next year.
“We obviously fast forward a year, hasn’t been the most enjoyable year, but obviously I’m glad that we all stuck with it, and if anything, I’m better prepared now.
“There’s so much to learn in F1 that honestly, even if you’re not driving and you’re reserve, you’re absorbing so much information that it’s going to be a big step, but I’m glad we stuck in there.
“I get one shot at F1 and it’s come now,” Lawson added.
“I’m obviously grateful for that opportunity, but I now need to take it with both hands.
“At the same time, [Ricciardo] said the same thing to me, and he said, you need to make the most of it.”
Lawson has been officially confirmed only for the coming six races, the Speedcafe understands he has a broader deal in place for 2025 with Red Bull Racing that could see him race alongside Max Verstappen should he impress this year.
That is the ideal scenario for the squad as it would then afford it the opportunity to promote Isack Hajdar at RB, spreading its risk ahead of Tsunoda’s expected departure at the end of 2025, and the chance of Verstappen choosing to leave the team.
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