Liam Lawson is fresh from his first outing back in Formula 1 at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas is done and dusted.
By all accounts, it was a rip-roaring success, with a ninth-place finish from the back of the grid. The New Zealander is allegedly in a six-race shootout for a Red Bull drive next year, this was the perfect start.
Winding things back to before the weekend at COTA, Lawson admitted he was “in the dark” regarding talk he could step up to Red Bull next year. Christian Horner revealed that Lawson will have the chance in the coming events to stake his claim to the seat alongside F1 champion Max Verstappen.
However, Lawson has divulged that Red Bull has not outlined specific targets that he needs to hit to be considered for a promotion to the senior side as soon as 2025.
Asked whether Red Bull had given him an indication of what he needs to do to earn a step up the ranks, Lawson replied: “I think that’s very far ahead, honestly. The target or the goal that’s been set out is the same as it’s always been since I was 17 and joined the programme. It’s all performance-based, and that’s basically how they’ll be looking at it.
Obviously, Yuki’s [Tsunoda] done a very good job the last couple of years, especially this year, and he’s the benchmark for obviously them to compare me against.”
Talk of a Red Bull promotion during Lawson’s first F1 race back in the paddock no doubt could ruffle some feathers. Particularly with Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda. Perez, who is constantly subject to discourse he could lose his drive and Tsunoda, who is constantly overlooked by Red Bull.
READ MORE: Christian Horner guaranteed Liam Lawson 2024 F1 seat last year
Lawson will ‘spice’ up Red Bull F1 seat chase
Tsunoda reckoned that Lawson’s arrival at RB could “spice” up the Red Bull seat chase. “It will increase our mentality to not get beaten,” the Japanese driver said. “I guess, that’s natural, maybe slightly [with a] bit more spice on top of it than usual, but I think it was similar to last year as well. I just focus on what I have to do.”
Lawson, replacing Daniel Ricciardo at RB, was thrown in at a deep end with a Sprint at a track he’d never raced at before. No surprise then that Tsunoda out-qualified him in the first of two quali sessions on Friday.
Starting the Sprint from 15th, there was little Lawson could do, but he did end up in a tasty spat with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
“Everyone on track is behaving as he wants, and for me today it was unnecessary, everyone can have different opinions, I’m okay with that,” Alonso said. “On the straight we nearly crashed like I did with Lance [Stroll] two years ago, at 300 [kmph] something. He squeezed out of the corners to the track limits itself, in Lap 1, out of Turb 11, I don’t want to make a big thing, you know, of course, no penalty when someone lifts off in 16, 17, that was probably the biggest surprise.”
Lawson saw the lighter side of the situation, saying “He was really upset, I’m not sure why, we were racing for P16.”
Lawson charged through the US GP field
The New Zealander got over that drama quite quickly, and with a hefty grid penalty looming over him for the Grand Prix due to new PU components, Lawson could simply show off in Saturday’s qualifying. That is precisely what he did, going third in Q1 before playing rear gunner for Tsunoda later on.
But it was on Sunday when Lawson really starred. Starting in 19th thanks to George Russell’s pit-lane start – the New Zealander shod hard tyres for a lengthy opening stint and methodically picked his way through the field. He passed Alonso en route through the pack, quipping post-race that the Spaniard “was nice to me today.” Ultimately, Lawson’s drive saw him climb 10 places and score two points for RB on his first race back in the Grand Prix big time.
That youthful spark is precisely what RB needs, given it now trails Haas in the fight for sixth in the Constructors’ standings by two points. Far too often Ricciardo was seen searching for answers behind poor performances. Lawson has burst out of the gates punching.
Lawson knows the pressure he’s under and the task laid out ahead of him – fighting to retain an F1 seat for 2025, at Red Bull or RB.
“Obviously, it’s also what I’m here to do,” he said post-race at COTA. “I’ve got a goal of staying in Formula 1. I know these races are very important, so it’s doing exactly what I’m here to do. We have five more very important races as well to focus on.”
Start as you mean to go on Liam. It was a fine start indeed.
READ MORE: Red Bull lauds Liam Lawson amid Sergio Perez’s F1 US GP woes
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