The 21-year-old New Zealander has recently competed in five Formula 1 races for AlphaTauri, Red Bull Racing's sister team, due to an injury suffered by Daniel Ricciardo.
Video / NZHerald
Despite missing out on a fulltime seat, Liam Lawson is set to make Formula 1 his sole focus in 2024.
The 21-year-old Kiwi has just finished a run of driving in five Formula 1 events for Red Bull Racing’s sister team AlphaTauri afforded to him by an injuryto Daniel Ricciardo.
In those five events, Lawson contested five Grand Prix races as well as a sprint, and the majority of what he showed on track saw his stocks rise in the field.
When Lawson, Red Bull and AlphaTauri’s reserve driver, got the late call-up to replace Ricciardo for the Dutch Gran Prix in late August, AlphaTauri were yet to confirm their lineup for next season. Lawson was overlooked for a seat with the team in 2023 and was instead deployed in Super Formula in Japan where he is in contention for the championship title with two races to go.
But despite a strong showing in his Formula 1 races, Lawson again missed out as Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda retained their seats for the new season, with Lawson retained as a reserve.
However, unlike past seasons, Lawson told the Herald that rather than going and racing in another series, the realm of Formula 1 and his responsibilities as a reserve would likely be his sole focus for 2024.
“In terms of other championships, I’ve done it all – at least on the F1 path,” Lawson said. “F2 and Super Formula are the two closest things, especially Super Formula, and by the end of the season I would have done it, so unless I go back for a second time, I think I will probably just focus on being reserve.”
There have been reports that Lawson has been guaranteed a spot on the grid for 2025 – be that with Red Bull or AlphaTauri as both teams will have a seat to fill for the 2025 season – but although the two parties have had conversations, Lawson said nothing was ever set in stone.
“It’s definitely part of the goal, but nothing is confirmed,” he said.
Liam Lawson has driven for AlphaTauri in the last five Formula 1 Grand Prix events. Photo / Getty Images
“Nothing’s locked into place for the future at all so until that happens it’s continuing to work towards that. It’s definitely the goal on my side, hopefully on Red Bull’s side as well, to have another opportunity to get back into the car I just don’t know when that will be.”
Lawson has shared reserve duties this year with Ricciardo, who had taken a step away from the grid after being replaced at McLaren. However, the eight-time Grand Prix winner replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri after 10 events of the season.
While it was announced that Ricciardo and Tsunoda would be the AlphaTauri team for 2024 at the Japan Grand Prix in late September, Lawson admitted he had already been told where he stood in the conversation prior to the event.
“I did know quite a long time before that. I found out in Singapore before the race; I actually found out right before qualifying,” Lawson said.
Ironically, the race in Singapore was Lawson’s best. He knocked out Red Bull ace Max Verstappen to reach the final round of qualifying before starting 10th on the grid for the Grand Prix. In the race, he scored his first Formula 1 points with a ninth-placed finish – the highest finish of any AlphaTauri driver this season.
“It was quite difficult, especially after the Singapore quali and the race, it was such a good weekend that the media was very, very positive and I obviously knew that I wasn’t driving next year but nobody else knew,” he said.
“The amount of questions that were like ‘you’re going to be driving next year, isn’t it exciting?’ and I had to be like ‘I have no idea’ even though I knew I wasn’t. It’s pretty tough, my goal is to be in Formula 1 full time so now it’s back to work trying to achieve that.”
