Daniel Ricciardo has watched on at the Singapore Grand Prix as his future outlook took another big twist.
The Australian was on the AlphaTauri pit wall as his replacement Liam Lawson blew the Formula 1 world away to knock Max Verstappen out from progressing through to the third qualifying session.
Lawson’s impressive drive to reach Q3 was one of several wild storylines to emerge from Sunday morning’s qualifying.
Carlos Sainz took pole position for Ferrari on a day where both Red Bulls failed to make it through to Q3 — the first time this has happened since 2018.
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Verstappen was eliminated in Q2 after finishing 11th fastest in an “undriveable” Red Bull and then escaped penalties that could have demoted him to last place.
Sainz’s lap of 1min 30.984sec pipped the Mercedes of George Russell by 0.072sec and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who was third, 0.007sec further back.
Earlier, Q1 was brought to a premature halt by a red flag after Lance Stroll spectacularly crashed his Aston Martin entering the pit straight at the end of a hot lap.
A huge impact into the wall sent his car spinning across the track with wheels and bodywork flying. The Canadian was later given the all-clear by doctors after walking away unscathed.
There was just as much drama happening off the track with Ricciardo in the thick of AlphaTauri’s game of musical chairs.
Lawson’s performances have prompted some social media chatter the Kiwi should take Ricciardo’s seat on a permanent basis. AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda’s future has also been pushed further into uncertainty without a contract for 2024.
Sky Sports commentator Ted Kravitz on Sunday light-heartedly suggested Lawson’s performances would mean that the Australian won’t make the same mistake of breaking his hand again.
The 34-year-old fractured his hand in seven places during his crash at the Dutch Grand Prix and is expected to return next month.
However, it is a comment from American motorsport star Danica Patrick that has caused the most outrage from Ricciardo fans.
When discussing AlphaTauri’s problems of having three drivers for two cars, Patrick said on Sky Sports: “Daniel Ricciardo is obviously at the end of his career”.
The more concerning thing for Ricciardo fans is the speculation Lawson is pushing his case for a full-time seat.
Kravitz said after the session he spotted Red Bull boss Christian Horner in the middle of a “very interesting meeting” with the AlphaTauri boss.
“It could be about anything, but I’m going to wonder it’s going to be about what you do with Liam Lawson, who is obviously a little star,” Kravitz said.
“Whether they keep him in the car long-term and they partner him up with Daniel Ricciardo and what you do with Yuki Tsunoda. They have an embarrassment of riches because Liam Lawson has done great since he made his Formula 1 debut.”
One F1 commentator said Lawson would be “smirking” while looking at Ricciardo “shaking”.
New Zealand youngster Lawson took the place of Ricciardo for the past two races and on both occasions has finished ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Meanwhile, Verstappen faced stewards on Sunday morning after being accused of impeding cars in the pit lane and twice more on the track as he tried to create a gap for his qualifying laps.
The stewards cleared the driver of one offence and issued reprimands each for the other two, meaning Verstappen retains his place on the sixth row.
“I knew it would always be tough to put it on pole. But this I didn’t expect,” Verstappen told reporters.
“Throughout the weekend we have been struggling. We tried a few more things on the car for qualifying and that tipped it over where it became undriveable again.”
Sainz will start from pole for the second consecutive grand prix after also being fastest in Italy two weeks ago.
“A bit like Monza really, we hit the ground running in FP1. I felt very confident all through the sessions and put it together in Q3,” said Sainz, who also topped the time sheets in Saturday’s third free practice session.
“I just focused on not doing any mistakes on that lap. Keeping it clean in Singapore normally pays off.”
Verstappen has won the last 10 races in a row and has a 145-point lead over Sergio Perez, who fared even worse as he spun on his final lap and could not improve on 13th.
The Dutchman has never triumphed under the lights in Singapore and faces an almost impossible task to end the drought at the street circuit after a torrid weekend well off the pace.
“It’s just a shocking experience,” he said.
Russell will start from the front row for the first time since the Australian Grand Prix at the beginning of April.
Grid, qualifying result for Singapore Grand Prix
Front row — Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari) George Russell (GBR/Mercedes)
2nd row — Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren)
3rd row — Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas)
4th row — Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin) Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine)
5th row — Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Haas) Liam Lawson (NZL/AlphaTauri)
6th row — Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine)
7th row — Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull) Alexander Albon (THA/Williams)
8th row — Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri) Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo)
9th row — Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren) Logan Sargeant (USA/Williams)
10th row — Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo) Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin)
— with AFP
