The Red Bull Academy has been producing several talented prodigies over the years. However, the Austrian team is not trusting these young drivers and many of them are still waiting for their F1 opportunity. Liam Lawson is one of those drivers, who already raced in a few Grands Prix last year and proved that he deserves a full-time seat. Despite his cameo last year, the Kiwi driver yet finds himself on the sidelines.
However, Christian Horner did deem Lawson as a future solution to Red Bull‘s current driver lineup issues. Per PlanetF1, the Red Bull boss stated, “We’ve got issues today, but you’ve got to have solutions for tomorrow as well.”
“I think we’ve got a tremendous pool of talent. We’ve got experience, we’ve got youth, we’ve got Liam [Lawson] in the wings, we’ve got Hadjar doing a super job in F2, we’ve got Arvid Lindblad who I think is a really exciting talent in F3”, Horner added.
Horner aims to rely on these young talents to have the best two drivers at either of Red Bull’s teams in the coming future. However, Lawson has been knocking on the Red Bull doors for a while now.
Decision time is coming…
Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson will go head to head in a shootout test at Imola on Wednesday.
The move comes amid growing doubt over Sergio Perez’s Red Bull seat.#F1 #RedBull #DanielRicciardo #LiamLawson #SergioPerez pic.twitter.com/8U4hlzncyu
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) July 27, 2024
That is why, he also took part in a short test alongside Daniel Ricciardo for V-CARB in Imola on July 31. While Horner called it a “filming day”, many experts speculated it was to test both drivers as a potential replacement for Sergio Perez in the future.
With Perez’s underwhelming form, there were strong rumors of either Lawson or Ricciardo replacing the Mexican after the summer break. However, Horner and Co. confirmed that they will continue to have Perez in the car at Zandvoort as well. Thus, things go back to square one for Lawson.
Why Red Bull can’t ignore Lawson?
Lawson has the chance to look at other teams as a free agent if Red Bull doesn’t give him a full-time seat for next season by September. On top of that, he has been proving his mettle ever since his F3 and F2 days. Moreover, his last year’s Super Formula campaign further underscored his abilities.
Lawson finished second in the 2023 Super Formula championship, missing out on winning it by only eight points. Lawson got three race wins in the season, a tally only matched by third-placed Tomiki Nojiri. However, Ritomo Miyata still won the title on the back of two race wins and more podiums than Lawson.
Usually, the Super Formula series is quite a high benchmark for judging young F1 prodigies. Pierre Gasly also earned his F1 promotion by racing in the Japanese series. So, Lawson’s performance in the 2023 season and his few stand-in Grand Prix performances should have earned him a seat at V-CARB.
However, Red Bull opted to retain both Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda for 2024. Now, Tsunoda has done exceptionally well by consistently scoring points. However, Ricciardo has only done well in patches. As a result, Red Bull have a tough choice to make before it gets too late and Lawson becomes a free agent.
