Liam Lawson reveals Daniel Ricciardo chat ahead of Canadian Grand Prix

Liam Lawson revealed that he’s sought advice from Daniel Ricciardo ahead of this weekend’s F1 Canadian Grand Prix.

After a tough start to the season with Red Bull, Lawson was demoted back to Racing Bulls alongside Isack Hadjar.

It’s not been plain-sailing for the Kiwi, who has struggled for results relative to Hadjar.

Lawson scored his first points of the year at the Monaco Grand Prix, as RB exploited the two-stop strategy rule with some clever team tactics.

Lawson narrowly missed out on a points finish last time out in Barcelona, ruing the timing of the Safety Car.

Speaking ahead of this weekend in Canada, Lawson admitted he talked to Ricciardo about the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Ricciardo raced in F1 between 2011 and 2024, winning the Canadian GP in his first year at Red Bull.

“It’s good to know that the car was fast last year, but at the same time, it’s quite often now that we look at last year’s results and, to be honest, they don’t repeat themselves a lot of the time,” Lawson explained.

“Tracks that maybe we haven’t been strong at, we’ve actually been strong at this year, and vice versa. So I think we just have to take it like any weekend. For me personally, it’s a track that I’m very excited for.

“It’s an iconic place. It looks like a fun track. I actually spoke to Daniel last week about this track and he loved it. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to it.

When asked if Ricciardo gave him any tips ahead of this weekend, Lawson added: Use lots of kerb. That’s probably the main one. It’s a track where as drivers… It’s a bit unique compared to most tracks that we drive on.

“It can be quite bumpy, and obviously there is a lot of kerb use around it. So, yeah, I think it’s unique, it’s something that we all enjoy, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Daniel Ricciardo’s maiden F1 win

Ricciardo’s first F1 win came at the 2014 Canadian GP.

The Australian capitalised on mechanical issues for Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to win the race. 

The Mercedes pair were dominating the race at the time but had a failure of their Kinetic Energy Recovery System (ERS-K) on both cars.

Hamilton was forced to retire from the race while Rosberg nursed the car home.

Ricciardo passed Rosberg and Sergio Perez to take his first F1 win for Red Bull.

He would take two more wins that season in an impressive first year alongside Sebastian Vettel.