Lawson debuteert op Zandvoort — Photo: © LAT Images

AlphaTauri

Lawson reveals SELFLESS Ricciardo act before F1 debut

Ricciardo is certainly living up to his reputation as one of the nicest drivers on the grid

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 2 September 2023 22:57

AlphaTauri driver Liam Lawson has revealed that both Daniel Ricciardo and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda were very supportive before his Formula 1 debut at the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend.

Lawson was drafted into the hot seat after a crash in FP2 at the Dutch GP left Ricciardo with a broken metacarpal.

This meant that Lawson was making his F1 debut just seven days after racing in the Super Fomula series, as he will now proceed to drive at the Italian GP and potentially in Singapore later in September.

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Ricciardo himself had been a replacement for Nyck de Vries after some poor performances from the rookie, meaning Tsunoda has now had three different team-mates this season.

None of it has made any difference to the AlphaTauri team, however, who are struggling with a poor car this season and sit bottom of the constructors' championship with just three points.

Lawson did perform well at Zandvoort however, navigating chaotic conditions to finish in 13th, ahead of Tsunoda in 15th, who has been driving in F1 since the start of 2021.

Now, Lawson has revealed how supportive both Tsunoda and Ricciardo were ahead of his debut race.

“Yuki has been very supportive which is obviously great as a teammate. Before the race last week, Daniel as well offered all the advice he could give," he told Sky Sports.

"Both really supportive guys, and same with the team. They’ve been extremely helpful with trying to get me up to speed as quickly as possible."

Lawson's F1 chance

Daniel Ricciardo suffered a nasty injury after his crash in FP2 at Zandvoort

Lawson is in a luxury position within the sport, with no real pressure on him to perform given his little time behind the wheel of an F1 car.

If he does manage to outperform Tsunoda as he did in Zandvoort, he may just find himself with a chance of a permanent seat in F1 next year, particularly with AlphaTauri not confirming as of yet any driver for 2024.

Yet for now, the New Zealander is just looking to get his head around some of the fundamental challenges of being inside an F1 cockpit.

“It’s so complex to drive a Formula 1 car that that’s really the challenge," Lawson continued.

"It’s not so much just driving, but it’s basically being able to operate everything and being comfortable with everything behind the wheel.

"That’s really the main thing that we’ve focused on during the week and trying to basically familiarise myself with how to operate the car, so that in a racing situation especially, I can be comfortable."