Liam Lawson handed penalty on VCARB debut ahead of Ricciardo

Liam Lawson, already under pressure as he replaces Daniel Ricciardo, has been handed a significant penalty ahead of his first race.

Liam Lawson hasn’t been handed the ideal start when he steps into Daniel Ricciardo’s racing shoes at the United States Grand Prix in Texas.

Following a four-week break, the eyes of the Formula 1 world will be focused on Lawson, following Ricciardo’s unceremonious dumping by the VCARB team.

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The Red Bull team’s handling of the saga involving the popular Aussie has led to widespread criticism, so Kiwi Lawson is tipped to feel a little extra pressure when he inherits Ricciardo’s car.

Now it has emerged the 22-year-old will cop a 10-place grid penalty from his sprint qualifying performance due to an engine penalty.

Even though Lawson will be recording his first official laps of the season, the power units allocated to Ricciardo are now the New Zealander’s responsibility.

Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson. Photos: Getty Images

The young Kiwi is finally getting another chance at F1 level. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

“The first (race), I think, won’t be relevant because he has an engine penalty,” Red Bull director Helmut Marko told Motorsport-Total.com.

“Ten places in the sprint race, so that doesn’t exactly make life easier in Austin.”

Half of the 20-man grid has already taken a penalty related to new engine parts, which will increase in the coming races.

Lawson’s challenge has been eased as the Texas event is a sprint weekend, so his Sunday race won’t be affected by the penalty.

He knows the time has arrived for him to truly show what he can do at F1 level.

“I’ve basically got to the end of the season and then I’ll find out more as the season goes on,” Lawson told Newstalk ZB. “So at this stage, it’s the six races.

Ricciardo stepping into the Visa Cash App RB cockpit for the last time in Singapore. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

“I need to perform (to keep the seat) basically, I need to try and obviously show my worth in F1 and I would say do a similar job to what I did last year.

“That’s what’s given me the shot now, is what happened last year. So I just need to do enough to stay in the seat next year.”

The Visa Cash App RB team and Red Bull officially announced 35-year-old Ricciardo’s time was up last Friday after he failed to blow teammate Yuki Tsunoda away and force his way back into Sergio Perez’s seat in the senior Red Bull team.

This is despite Perez being the clear weak link for Red Bull as the top team dropped to second in the constructors’ championship and has all but given up hope of regaining the lead in 2024.

Yet he’s seemingly retained his spot as the team searches for who they want in the seat next, mostly due to Ricciardo’s failure to impress against Tsunoda.

Helmut Marko hasn’t won a lot of fans over the ordeal. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

It gives Lawson the last six races of the season to show he’s the man who deserves the seat in an intriguing finish to the year.

But for an eight-time race winner and a man who is 10th all-time in race entries (258) and starts (257) in F1, it’s safe to say it was an unceremonious end to Ricciardo’s stellar career.

Ricciardo’s last race was full of the emotion, poignant scenes and one final moment of brilliance as he snatched the fastest lap point from McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Norris’ Singapore Grand Prix win cut Max Verstappen’s drivers’ championship lead to 52 points.

However, it could have been 51 points — which is a magic number at this stage of the championship.

With six races and three sprints remaining in 2024, if Norris finished first in every race with the fastest lap bonus point and Verstappen finished second, Norris would score 51 points more than Verstappen — meaning the Dutchman would still win the world championship.