Liam Lawson has recently expressed his disappointment after he failed to secure a full-time F1 seat for next season. The New Zealander has so far competed in three races and has been very impressive. However, his run will come to an end after this weekend in Qatar as the injured Daniel Ricciardo will make his return at the United States Grand Prix.
With the Australian all set to return for the American leg of races, Lawson will want to make the most of his opportunity this weekend. However, the 21-year-old is not optimistic about the same. In the same interview in which he expressed his disappointment to not receive a full-time F1 seat, he also explained why the Qatar GP for him is unlikely to be a strong race.
Liam’s journey to F1 encompasses everything we stand for here at Rodin Cars and that is “NO LIMITS”.
From his very first visit in 2018 till now, we’ve loved being a part of his motorsport journey and sharing his successes. We are with you all the way @LiamLawson30 🙌🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/M6V5TpE6Z3
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While speaking to speedcafe.com, Lawson said, “It’s also a Sprint weekend, so at the same time, that makes it quite tricky, especially in my situation. I’ve never driven here, so going into the sprint weekend will be extra tough“.
Liam Lawson expresses his disappointment in failing to secure F1 seat
In the same interview with speedcafe.com, Liam Lawson also expressed his disappointment in securing an F1 seat as he said, “Obviously, my goal is to be in Formula 1 full-time. So as much as it’s disappointing, it’s still my goal, and it’s now about trying to make sure that I can make that happen in the future“.
He then added that he has still got one more opportunity this year at the Qatar Grand Prix, so he will attempt to make the most of it. Since this is the first time that an F1 race will take place at the Lusail International Circuit since 2021, Lawson will have a difficult job on his hands, having never raced at this venue previously.
Speaking of what he expects from this race weekend, the 21-year-old added in the same interview, “With only one Free Practice session, we drivers will have to know where to improve because it’ll get faster at night when it’s much cooler, and we need to know exactly how to extract everything out of the car. I’m expecting it to be tougher than the races we’ve just done“.
However, what is likely to provide the New Zealander with a major boost is that he has received the highest of praises from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. The 49-year-old stated in an interview about how Lawson did everything he could to make the most of the opportunities that he has received so far this season.
Lawson will continue as a reserve driver in 2024
Since Liam Lawson failed to secure a full-time F1 seat in 2024, Red Bull have confirmed that he will continue as the reserve driver for their side and their sister team, AlphaTauri. As quoted by formula1.com, Christian Horner has said that it is only a matter of time before the 21-year-old gets his opportunity in F1.
Since Horner himself has admitted that Lawson is a huge talent for the future, the New Zealander is likely to also have interest from other F1 teams. Hence, Red Bull will need to act fast and make sure that they provide Lawson with the necessary opportunities to convince him to stay with them.
