Is Lawson welcome at Red Bull? 'There is still plenty of time'

Liam Lawson has already had a taste of Formula 1 in 2023. Daniel Ricciardo's broken metacarpal at Zandvoort last year allowed Lawson to fill in for five races. Many people were very pleased with his performance at the time. Given that the New Zealander is Red Bull and VCARB's reserve driver, a seat from 2025 should be possible.

Is there a place for Lawson at Red Bull Racing or VCARB?

VCARB CEO Peter Bayer says his team's focus at the moment is on the performances of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda. So there seems to be no room for Lawson here yet. "Look, Liam is an extremely valuable member of the team. He's with us every weekend. Obviously, he's doing a lot of work in the simulator. But as I said before, currently we have two drivers in the cars. We are finding performance with the two. And we really do not discuss the 2025 situation, perhaps because we're in a luxury situation of having that strong grassroots pyramid behind us. So the focus is really on track and on the next couple of races until definitely the summer break," Bayer said.

Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner especially stressed that it is still early in the season. However, Sergio Perez does seem to be on course for an extension to his contract, although they have not yet agreed on its duration. "Yes, look, I mean, they're all Red Bull racing drivers. And we're only at race eight, so still plenty of time. It's good to see the youngsters performing well, and it's good to have that competition as well. So Liam is undoubtedly keen to get back into a race situation. Drivers in Formula 2 performing well at the moment. Formula 3, likewise. So we have a strong vein of talent," Horner said.

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy