Red Bull Formula 1 star Liam Lawson has offered an insight into his relationship with the man he replaced at Visa Cash App RB last year, Daniel Ricciardo.
With Sergio Perez underperforming at Red Bull last season, Lawson now finds himself at the main team alongside reigning world champion Max Verstappen heading into 2025.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, is without a seat on the grid at all, with it entirely up in the air whether or not he will race in F1 again.
Liam Lawson replaced Daniel Ricciardo after the Singapore GPLiam Lawson is now a Red Bull driver
Liam Lawson makes Daniel Ricciardo reveal
Ricciardo had been thought to be a candidate to replace Perez himself, but his poor performances made that implausible, and he started having to worry about his F1 career as a whole due to the threat of Lawson.
Despite this, Lawson has revealed that Ricciardo offered him words of support throughout the ordeal and even congratulated the young New Zealander when his move to Red Bull was confirmed back in December.
"I actually spoke to Daniel a lot when it was happening," Lawson told GQ Magazine. "I will always have so much respect for him.
"Throughout the whole ordeal, from when the rumours started to when they were confirmed, he never said a bad word about or towards me.
"He never made it about me and him, because at the end of the day, it wasn’t our decision, it’s up to the team, and what they decide to do. He was so good to me, through all of it.
"Fast forward to December, when I got the Red Bull seat, and Daniel is still the only driver, past or present, to send me a message about it, congratulating me. It says a lot about him as a person."