When Japanese television cameras panned to Liam Lawson standing behind Daniel Ricciardo as the latter crashed and brought out the red flag, Tom Coronel said the reserve driver said, “Yeah, yeah!'' I am thinking that I must have thought that.
Last year, Lawson was informed on the eve of his last substitute race with Red Bull's junior team that he would remain as reserve driver in this year's championship.
Daniel Ricciardo has 'done his time', says Tom Coronel
RB, as the team is now known, will instead continue with Ricardo as Hiroki Tsunoda's 2024 teammate.
But what was once billed as Ratel's Red Bull audition turned into a battle for a spot in the junior team, and a disappointing start to the season.
Ricciardo, who lost 4-0 to Tsunoda and outscored him 7-0, crashed on the opening lap, ending his hopes of making a comeback in Japan.
He and Alex Albon crashed into the barrier hard and the race was red flagged while track marshals repaired the tire barrier.
This definitely resulted in one of the most iconic moments of the season. The F1 cameraman focused on a disgruntled Ricciardo staring at the screen with the RB team, but he ended up capturing the entire scene with Lawson watching from a few meters away.
Dutch critic Coronel praised the moment.
“Lawson was standing behind it with a 'Yes, yes!' look on his face,” he told Viaplay with a laugh. “If I were him, I'd always keep my phone charged.”
He urged Red Bull to remove Ricciardo, saying the 34-year-old has plenty of time and Lawson deserves the opportunity now.
“Give the other guy a chance. He's been doing his time,” he added rather cruelly.
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Even before the first-lap crash, Ricciardo had qualified second behind Tsunoda, but the Japanese driver had kept Tsunoda out of the Q3 shootout.
F1maximaal's Mark Hanselmann believes it is only the “goodwill factor” with Red Bull that has kept Ricciardo in the seat.
“The start mainly showed Daniel Ricciardo's lack of confidence. The Australian player relies on his own confidence, but he is now suffering from the fact that Yuki Tsunoda is constantly underestimated,” he said. Told.
“Ricciardo probably also took it too easy to beat the Japanese driver. It's clear that his confidence has suffered greatly.”
He added: “The qualifying went better than before, but if he didn't have an element of goodwill, the death warrant would have already been signed.”
However, it was claimed earlier this season that Ricciardo would need to play two games to defend the RB seat, or that Lawson would be in the car at Miami, a claim denied by the Kiwis.
They told PlanetF1.com there is no talk of Lawson replacing Ricciardo, but they hope he will be given the opportunity to take the full-time seat.
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