Liam Lawson faces an uphill battle to find a seat on the F1 grid, although he continues to work towards this objective. With Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo likely to stay with VCARB, Lawson is open to alternatives. Though his priority is Red Bull, Lawson is prepared to leave the team to keep his F1 dreams alive. As it stands, the Milton Keynes team are not expected to give him a 2025 seat.
As mentioned previously on formu1a.uno, Lawson’s options in F1 are diminishing. Sergio Perez’s contract extension is the first door of many at Red Bull that are closing.
Red Bull’s second team is likely to keep the same driver combination in 2025. Unless Tsunoda grows tired of the limited opportunities at Red Bull and leaves, the Japanese driver will continue racing alongside Daniel Ricciardo in twelve months’ time.
Of course, this is not good news for Liam Lawson. The 21-year-old spoke in an interview with Talksport about his prospects for 2025:
“Obviously, everything is changing at the moment – there’s a lot of drivers moving around. At the moment, I don’t really know where I fit into that and if I do at all. But it’s something that I’m working towards every single day.
“Honestly, at the end of the day, I would love to be at Red Bull in Formula 1… If I could choose, I would love to be with Red Bull.
“But obviously, if there’s no seat there, my goal is Formula 1. So that could be anywhere.”
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 21: Yuki Tsunoda of Japan and Visa Cash App RB, Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Visa Cash App RB and Liam Lawson of New Zealand and Visa Cash App RB talk in the Paddock during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park Circuit on March 21, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202403210100 // Usage for editorial use only //
LIAM LAWSON COULD BE THE ODD ONE OUT
These comments provide a good summary of Lawson’s situation. On paper, he meets all the criteria to earn a full-time contract with VCARB.
His efforts last season were very competitive despite being abruptly thrown into the deep end.
However, there seems to be very limited upward mobility at Red Bull. The team once relentless in offering young drivers opportunities is no more. Daniel Ricciardo’s presence in the team, even though Red Bull doesn’t deem him fast enough for a seat in the main team, proves this point.
Seats are plentiful elsewhere on the grid, but competition is fiercer than ever. The 21-year-old will struggle to convince midfield teams to overlook the established drivers they have been negotiating with for months. This could leave Lawson as the odd one out and without an F1 contract.
