Red Bull’s reserve driver, Liam Lawson, revealed that he would be willing to seek his place in Formula 1 outside the orbit of his current team, if the team does not offer him the dreamed opportunity of being a starter at Red Bull Racing itself or at the team- sister, RB, in 2025.
Lawson competed in five races for the then AlphaTauri in 2023 as Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement, but Red Bull opted to keep the duo Yuki Tsunoda and Ricciardo himself in the renamed RB team for the 2024 season.
Once again demoted to reserve driver, the New Zealander admits that the ideal scenario would be to reach F1 through Red Bull’s development program. “Obviously for me the dream is to race for Red Bull, and I’ve been with them for over five years,” said Lawson. “They are the most competitive team in Formula 1 at the moment, so if I could choose, I would race for them.”
However, Lawson made it clear that he will not hesitate to look for a place at another team for the 2025 season if there is no space at Red Bull or RB. “But my dream is to be in Formula 1, and if it can’t be with them, obviously I need to try and make it happen with another team,” he added.
Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko had claimed last month that Lawson would be on the grid ‘until 2025’, suggesting he could replace Tsunoda or Ricciardo.
Therefore, the performance of RB drivers will be crucial in defining Lawson’s future. So far, Tsunoda has been outperforming Ricciardo, who had a lower-than-expected start to the season. The Australian is under pressure from Marko to improve his results and at least match Tsunoda.
Ricciardo, in turn, wants to return to Red Bull, the team he left at the end of 2018. However, Red Bull boss Christian Horner has previously stated that Sergio Perez is in ‘pole position’ to renew his contract (which ends at the end of 2024) and continue alongside Max Verstappen.
Download our official app to Android It is iPhone and receive notifications of the latest news.
