Red Bull Racing Berang Daniel Ricciardo Leaves During The F1 Racing Season Still Running

JAKARTA - The head of the Red Bull (RB) team, Laurent Mekies, did not like the sudden departure of racer Daniel Ricciardo when the Formula 1 competition was still ongoing.

"We are not happy with how we handle it in the end, and of course we are very aware that we can, and we should, do a better job of that," Laurent Mekies was quoted as saying on the official Formula 1 website on Saturday.

Daniel Ricciardo decided to leave the RB team's livery seat and the vacant seat he left now in the RB team was filled by young racer Liam Lawson for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Mekies regretted that Ricciardo announced the decision so quickly and had been leaked to the public even though the two had been in a discussion situation and understood each other's decision taken by the 35-year-old rider.

"Daniel and we spoke regularly, and then we entered that weekend (GP Singapore) by knowing how the situation was. For a number of reasons we decided to go to Singapore and try to keep it from leaking to the public and (the announcement) proved very, very fast on the weekend that unfortunately it was not the right decision," said Mekies.

Currently Mekies is focusing on improving Liam Lawson's performance in the remaining six races. The New Zealand racer is considered by Mekies to have enormous potential to compete in Formula 1.

"He (Lawson) has been doing a very good job. He has been waiting for this moment for a very long time and now he has been sitting with us in the office since race 1. This is a very long time for riders to have no other racing program, just to come to the race arena and see everyone else go to race," said Mekies.