Liam Lawson has revealed that Red Bull boss Christian Horner told him last season that he would be guaranteed a Formula 1 race drive with one of its teams in 2024.
RB announced last month that Daniel Ricciardo will not return to complete the remaining six rounds as Lawson will take the place alongside incumbent Yuki Tsunoda.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said earlier this term that Lawson would prop up in an F1 seat with the Red Bull stable, though Horner moved to dampen those claims.
However, Lawson has divulged that his positive five-race run last year deputising for the sidelined Ricciardo had seen Horner make assurances that he would be back.
“The idea of me jumping in is something that Christian told me a year ago,” Lawson told the official F1 channel.
“When I stepped out of the car, that was one of the things he said to me that, he said ‘I give you my word I’ll basically have you in a race at some point next year’.
“So I always knew that was the intention and it had been talked about.”
Lawson recounts ‘horrible’ experience
However, Lawson has conceded that he was unsure which spot he would slot into until he was informed in Baku that Ricciardo would not be seeing out the campaign.
“As you know Formula 1 is a rollercoaster and every weekend things change,” he explained.
“So one minute it looks really good and then it doesn’t look good and it’s all depending on how the guys are actually going.
“It’s a bit horrible to be honest because you’re sitting there wondering what your chances are of driving and it completely depends on how the guys that are currently driving are doing.
“And you don’t obviously want somebody’s downfall to be your way in but for me to drive somebody has to leave, obviously.”
Lawson praises Ricciardo’s handling
The New Zealander has commended how Ricciardo handled the previous race weekend in Singapore amid the speculation over whether it would be his last outing.
“He’s helped me, honestly, quite a lot over the last 12 months,” Lawson expressed.
“And he was very good about the whole situation in Singapore, and I guess we both knew how it was going to be when it all came, and in the media.
“And that’s honestly why I just hadn’t really been on my phone too much.
“It’s not something that fazes me too much. I’ve got quite a lot to focus on, obviously going into the last six races, and that’s honestly where my head’s been at.
“I don’t really have the capacity to do everything else.”
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