Liam Lawson has disclosed that he had known for several weeks before the general public that Daniel Ricciardo would be replaced following the Singapore GP.
The 22-year-old rookie from New Zealand is set to take over Ricciardo's seat in Austin, telling NZME radio that it was a "very cool feeling."
However, he's had plenty of time to adjust to this information.
"Obviously I knew about it for the last sort of probably two weeks," Lawson said, "but until it's out there to the world, it doesn't ever really feel set in stone."
"It had been the plan for a long time now, this was sort of where it was leading at least," he continued.
For Ricciardo, 35, the Singapore weekend was especially tough as he also either knew or strongly suspected that his departure from Red Bull was imminent.
Lawson, too, faced challenges, as he has been targeted with online criticism by Formula 1 fans upset with how Ricciardo was treated.
"Daniel has always been so good to me. I've never felt in competition with him," Lawson insisted.
It is speculated that Red Bull had an obligation to place Lawson in the Faenza-made car as soon as the energy drink company exercised a 2025 option in his contract.
Lawson's management has denied this, though the driver himself acknowledged feeling awkward during the Singapore weekend.
"Obviously I had a contract date that needed to be sort of fulfilled," Lawson confirmed. "So basically it was always going towards this way and then a couple of weeks ago they told me this was what was going to happen and not long after that it was set in stone."
Despite his upcoming promotion, Lawson admitted that Singapore was not a pleasant experience while acting as Red Bull's reserve driver.
"Not good, honestly," Lawson said when asked how he felt in Singapore.
"It was definitely not an enjoyable weekend for me, just because obviously we all knew what was coming. And Daniel has always been very good to me in a lot of ways."
"But obviously for me, I get one shot at F1 and it's come now, and I'm obviously grateful for that opportunity but I now need to take it with both hands. He (Ricciardo) said the same thing and said 'you need to make the most of this'."
"Honestly, I have a huge amount of respect for how he dealt with everything because I can't really imagine what that felt like."
Red Bull has confirmed Isack Hadjar as the new reserve driver, but Lawson stressed that he is not yet guaranteed a spot on the F1 grid for 2025.
"I need to perform, basically," he said. "Basically I've got these six races until the end of the season. I'll find out more as the season goes on, but I just need to do enough to stay in the seat next year," concluded Lawson.
