While the New Zealander has impressed significantly throughout his stand-in performances for the reason that Dutch Grand Prix as a substitute for Daniel Ricciardo, it’s wanting unlikely that it has been sufficient to safe him a full-time F1 drive.
With Red Bull already keen handy Ricciardo a seat at AlphaTauri subsequent season, Lawson’s solely actual hope of getting a 2024 drive was for the squad to decide on him over incumbent Yuki Tsunoda.
But with it understood that Tsunoda and AlphaTauri have agreed phrases to proceed into 2024, and an announcement anticipated to be made at this weekend’s Japanese GP, it means Lawson must wait for that chance to come back.
Options elsewhere on the grid look distant, with solely a doable Williams seat nonetheless accessible if it doesn’t hold Logan Sargeant.
Instead, the almost definitely route is for Lawson to tackle a take a look at and reserve role at Red Bull as he bides his time till 2025 when there may very well be a shuffle of the power drinks firm’s drivers.
Speaking on the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday, Red Bull workforce boss Christian Horner urged it was unlikely that Lawson could be loaned out, however indicated there have been plans for him to stay working with Red Bull.
“He’s in the Red Bull family,” he stated. “I believe there’s just one seat left accessible, and we have completed that previously when, for instance, Carlos [Sainz] went on mortgage to the earlier Renault workforce.
“But I think if he’s not sitting in a grand prix car next year, then he is going to have plenty on his plate with other stuff to do.”
Japanese GP
Horner was stuffed with reward for the job that Lawson had completed at AlphaTauri, having been thrown within the deep finish at Zandvoort after Ricciardo broke his hand in second follow.
“I think he’s done an outstanding job,” stated Horner. “Dropped in within the rain in Zandvoort: that was a little bit of an eye-opener for him. But I assumed he did properly there.
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“Then, every week later in Monza, he was unfortunate to overlook out on some extent. And then seeing Singapore for the primary time and scoring a few factors. He’s a gritty racer. We know that about him.
“I think he’s grabbed this opportunity in F1, and it’s very seldom drivers get a chance to demonstrate their talent. I think he’s done a tremendous job and certainly has put himself firmly on the radar, and cemented the feeling that we had about him.”
While Lawson appears to be like set to overlook out on a race seat this time round, Horner stated there was little doubt he could be in F1 sooner or later.
“We’ve got a luxury problem where we’ve got three into two in that team,” he stated. “Obviously it’s an AlphaTauri challenge, however there’s three nice drivers and it is a good headache to have.
“He shall be a grand prix driver, and he already is a grand prix driver, at some stage.
“Whether he has to wait a little for that or not, then I think he’s demonstrating that he is a talent for the future.”
