Hi friends,
The newsletter arrives slightly later than usual – I had to wait for the publishing embargo on the Ricciardo-Lawson news to lift, before hitting the send button.
Top story of the week: Liam Lawson replaces Daniel Riccardo for the remainder of the season
It was all but confirmed when we watched the post-race interviews and footage from Singapore, but now it’s official: Daniel Ricciardo has been let go, and Liam Lawson will replace him at VCARB from the US GP.
Why is this important? Any driver change during a season is important, but this one maybe more than meets the eye. It’s no secret that there’s a power struggle going on inside Red Bull, and it’s widely considered that when it comes to the driver situation, Daniel Ricciardo was one of the pieces to the puzzle, with Horner spending significant political capital to back him – with Marko pushing for rookie Lawson to take the seat instead. This outcome is a victory for Marko, but that doesn’t mean that the war is won.
I’ll be sad to see Ricciardo go. Maybe not so much for the racing as of late, but his personality was a great asset to Formula 1 and the paddock as a whole. But I’m also excited to see what Lawson can do. There is no doubt that he is a very talented driver, and I can’t help but think that this is as much a signal to Perez, that they aren’t afraid to make changes if needed – and with the rumoured performance clauses in Perez’s contract, there’s is no guarantee that he will be in that seat come 2025.
The rest of the stories this week:
- McLaren have been asked by the FIA to change their “mini-drs” wing design
- McLaren signs Will Courtenay from Red Bull as their new Sporting Director
- The Madrid GP is having trouble finding private investors to fund the event
- Pirelli’s Head of F1 Mario Isola met with George Russell after he criticised the tyre performance after the Singapore GP
- Calum Nicholas, Red Bull pit crew member, will publish his memoir talking about life in F1
- Three men have been charged with trying to blackmail the Schumacher family
- F1 and the Las Vegas GP are being sued by a local business for costing the business “millions of dollars” in revenue
- The Miami International Autodrome has revealed four new circuit layouts
- Renault employees in the engine factory in Viry planning more protests
- Formula E co-founder and Chairman Alejandro Agag calls for the EU Commission to “look very carefully” at the Liberty Media acquisition of MotoGP
- Alpine purchases a stake of the Signatech WEC team
- Sauber reserve driver Zane Maloney joins Lola Yamaha ABT in Formula E
- Logan Sargeant will test in IndyCar with Meyer Shank Racing in November
- IndyCar introduces a charter system
- IndyCar champion Alex Palou will do the Indy 8 Hour GT race with Mercedes
- Rupert Keegan, former F1 driver with 25 starts, has passed away
- IMSA impounded seven GTP cars after the race at Indianapolis
And one final thing – I’m keeping track of the Formula 1 Championship math over on Twitter. So far Norris is still clinging to his Championship hopes. If you’re interested in that sort of thing, you can go check it out right here.
That’s it for this week. Until next time, thank you for being here.
If you want to support me, you can help fuel the snack addition that powers me through compiling these lists and vetting the stories – you can do so on Buymeacoffee or Patreon.
