Liam Lawson claims he ‘pissed off’ Helmut Marko hours before replacing injured Daniel Ricciardo at Dutch GP

Red Bull academy driver Liam Lawson made a surprise debut in 2023 to replace an injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri (now RB). The Kiwi driver drove in 5 races last season and impressed the paddock with his results. However, Lawson has now revealed that he put Red Bull Motorsport Advisor, Dr. Helmut Marko in a bad mood before getting the call-up to replace Ricciardo.

Lawson recalled his conversation with Marko before Daniel Ricciardo‘s incident on Friday at the Dutch GP. The 22-year-old had a big crash in the Super Formula at Montegi. Although, Liam Lawson highlighted that he was having a strong season otherwise alongside his F1 duties as the reserve driver of Red Bull. Subsequently, The Kiwi driver affirmed that he would try to ‘sell’ himself to Helmut Marko for a full-time seat for 2024.

I’d just had a massive crash in Motegi but other than that the season was going strong. I’d been doing all the Formula 1 work and everything was going good and I basically decided in this meeting, I’m going to sell myself to him and basically tell him why I think I should be in the car.

Liam Lawson The Red Flags Podcast

The 22-year-old mentioned that he kept insisting Marko for a 2024 seat for around 20 minutes. Lawson reckoned that the 80-year-old got slightly pissed off due to this conversation. However, just an hour later, Daniel Ricciardo injured his wrist in the free practice crash.

So I spent 20 minutes doing that and asking him why he wouldn’t put me in for 2024 and all these kind of things. And so he basically, I think, just started to get a bit pissed off. Then I left and then the crash happened like an hour later.

Liam Lawson explained

Liam Lawson recalls how Helmut Marko gave him his F1 debut

After Ricciardo’s crash, Liam Lawson was seen as the top pick to replace the Australian driver as he was the reserve driver of the team. However, there were rumors that Red Bull could bring in someone else, including the recently-ousted Nyck de Vries. As such, Lawson had to make sure that Marko and then-Team Principal Franz Tost saw his confidence.

So basically I need to act with all this confidence.

Liam Lawson stated

The Kiwi driver found the two key figures in the paddock soon after the incident. Lawson claimed that Helmut Marko simply gave him a look and asked he was ready. Subsequently, the 22-year-old took no time to reply with a yes as he was eager to get his chance to race in the pinnacle of motorsport.

I found Helmut and he was talking to Franz, and Helmut just looked at me, I like walked up in their conversation and he just looked at me like, are you ready? I was like, ‘yep.’

Liam Lawson affirmed

Liam Lawson succeeded in showing his talent in F1. Unfortunately, the Kiwi driver did not get a full-time seat for 2024. However, it is clear that Red Bull will be looking to promote Liam Lawson to an F1 seat in the near future, potentially even next season. Although, the 22-year-old has affirmed that he could join a rival team if the opportunity arose. As such, it remains to be seen how things pan out for the Kiwi driver in the coming months.

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