Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal. But with so much movement this year within the team: Rookie Nyck DeVries gets the boot after 10 races, Ricciardo takes his place, But then breaks his...
Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo will form AlphaTauri’s race line-up for 2024, with Liam Lawson to fulfil reserve driver duties for the Italian squad and sister team Red Bull.
Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal. But with so much movement this year within the team:
Rookie Nyck DeVries gets the boot after 10 races,
Ricciardo takes his place,
But then breaks his finger/hand during an FP at Zandvoort,
Which causes Lawson, the reserve driver, to make his F1 debut,
And Lawson doing pretty well the last 3 races,
...Seemed like there was a fair amount of speculation (founded or not) that maybe Lawson would somehow retain one of the AT seats for 2024. And maybe even cause some movement in senior, sister team Red Bull to make that happen.
Personally, I'm impressed with Lawson. I do think he should get a more permanent chance at AT. Or elsewhere on the grid.
Then again, that's what happened to DeVries. So who knows.
Such a strange choice to pick Daniel when Liam is clearly capable of driving that car and isn't 34. but I guess they must rate Danny higher than me, or he has really good marketing potential....
Such a strange choice to pick Daniel when Liam is clearly capable of driving that car and isn't 34. but I guess they must rate Danny higher than me, or he has really good marketing potential.
Maybe Liam will end up at Williams. Stranger things have happened.
Who else is at risk? Zhou? I don't think he's done too poorly, his team has let him down time and time again, same with Valterri.
Maybe RB/AT can do with Lawson what they did with Albon during his first year at Williams. Replace Sargeant with Lawson for a year or two, but RB retains him. Then once a spot opens up at AT,...
Maybe RB/AT can do with Lawson what they did with Albon during his first year at Williams. Replace Sargeant with Lawson for a year or two, but RB retains him. Then once a spot opens up at AT, Lawson could move back in.
After all, if Sargeant goes, Williams doesn't really have good options. The Williams Driver Academy is all F3 drivers and a karting driver. There's Jamie Chadwick, former W Series 2x champion who's now doing Indy NXT (and is the Williams' F1 development driver). She's probably the most experienced driver they have in their benches. There's obviously "graduates" of the Academy, but I'm not sure if any of them are worth bringing in.
Not that Williams has to use its academy. Seems like F1 teams would rather bring in an outsider with talent and potential over picking through their junior benches.
they want DR for development instead of two relative rookies. But yeah, I'd rather see Lawson get the seat over Danny. Danny would be better suited doing promotion for RB and F1 as a whole.
they want DR for development instead of two relative rookies. But yeah, I'd rather see Lawson get the seat over Danny. Danny would be better suited doing promotion for RB and F1 as a whole.
It’s not all that strange with more context. AT is going to have to stand on their own two feet in the coming years. They will no longer remain the junior development team it’s been. Keeping...
It’s not all that strange with more context. AT is going to have to stand on their own two feet in the coming years. They will no longer remain the junior development team it’s been. Keeping Lawson over DR3 would be a huge miss of highly valuable input from a racing driver with DR3’s all-around experience.
Personally, I think Tsunoda should have the boot and Lawson the seat. He’s outperformed minimum expectations, then went above the minimum with an AT best of P9. Lawson is without a doubt doing better than Tsunoda’s rookie year. Maybe development differences over last year but… idk.
DR is fine, but I'm stoked for Yuki. He has been consistently improving these last couple of years and has done really well this year given that the AT car this year isn't great. Hopefully we will...
DR is fine, but I'm stoked for Yuki. He has been consistently improving these last couple of years and has done really well this year given that the AT car this year isn't great. Hopefully we will see him in an RB or some other higher end team in he next couple of years.
Kinda bummed for Liam, he debut and first few races in F1 have been nothing short of great. Hopefully he can land a spot somewhere and continue to build.
It felt like Yuki had such a run of bad luck in the later half of this season. I'm really glad he's sticking around and hoping that he sees some car and/or luck improvements next year.
It felt like Yuki had such a run of bad luck in the later half of this season. I'm really glad he's sticking around and hoping that he sees some car and/or luck improvements next year.
Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal. But with so much movement this year within the team:
...Seemed like there was a fair amount of speculation (founded or not) that maybe Lawson would somehow retain one of the AT seats for 2024. And maybe even cause some movement in senior, sister team Red Bull to make that happen.
Personally, I'm impressed with Lawson. I do think he should get a more permanent chance at AT. Or elsewhere on the grid.
Then again, that's what happened to DeVries. So who knows.
Such a strange choice to pick Daniel when Liam is clearly capable of driving that car and isn't 34. but I guess they must rate Danny higher than me, or he has really good marketing potential.
Maybe Liam will end up at Williams. Stranger things have happened.
Who else is at risk? Zhou? I don't think he's done too poorly, his team has let him down time and time again, same with Valterri.
Williams seems like a good seat for Lawson as Sargeant doesn't seem to show the same potential.
Maybe RB/AT can do with Lawson what they did with Albon during his first year at Williams. Replace Sargeant with Lawson for a year or two, but RB retains him. Then once a spot opens up at AT, Lawson could move back in.
After all, if Sargeant goes, Williams doesn't really have good options. The Williams Driver Academy is all F3 drivers and a karting driver. There's Jamie Chadwick, former W Series 2x champion who's now doing Indy NXT (and is the Williams' F1 development driver). She's probably the most experienced driver they have in their benches. There's obviously "graduates" of the Academy, but I'm not sure if any of them are worth bringing in.
Not that Williams has to use its academy. Seems like F1 teams would rather bring in an outsider with talent and potential over picking through their junior benches.
they want DR for development instead of two relative rookies. But yeah, I'd rather see Lawson get the seat over Danny. Danny would be better suited doing promotion for RB and F1 as a whole.
It’s not all that strange with more context. AT is going to have to stand on their own two feet in the coming years. They will no longer remain the junior development team it’s been. Keeping Lawson over DR3 would be a huge miss of highly valuable input from a racing driver with DR3’s all-around experience.
Personally, I think Tsunoda should have the boot and Lawson the seat. He’s outperformed minimum expectations, then went above the minimum with an AT best of P9. Lawson is without a doubt doing better than Tsunoda’s rookie year. Maybe development differences over last year but… idk.
DR is fine, but I'm stoked for Yuki. He has been consistently improving these last couple of years and has done really well this year given that the AT car this year isn't great. Hopefully we will see him in an RB or some other higher end team in he next couple of years.
Kinda bummed for Liam, he debut and first few races in F1 have been nothing short of great. Hopefully he can land a spot somewhere and continue to build.
It felt like Yuki had such a run of bad luck in the later half of this season. I'm really glad he's sticking around and hoping that he sees some car and/or luck improvements next year.