If reports are to be believed, New Zealand’s Liam Lawson is the front runner. However, a “Did Not Finish” (DNF) in Abu Dhabi on his CV is hardly the way the 22-year-old Kiwi would have wanted to finish his six-race stint with Racing Bulls.
All up, Lawson finishes this season with a pair of ninth-placed finishes – both impressive for different reasons – having taken over from Daniel Ricciardo.
Four years ago, we saw Sergio Perez snapped up by Red Bull after winning the Sakhir Grand Prix for Racing Point. In that instance, Horner and Marko decided there and then to take a chance, and bring Perez in to partner Verstappen at Alex Albon’s expense.
If there’s any solace for Lawson, it’s the fact that no other driver on the grid was able to produce a result from the Perez 2020 vintage.
Yuki Tsunoda also finished outside the points this morning, while Franco Colapinto’s teary radio message to Williams at the start of the Grand Prix effectively announced that he also won’t be on next season’s grid – to start with, at least.
Murphy’s law
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Captain Edward A Murphy Jr came up with that in the 1940s.
More than 80 years later, Murphy’s Law was on show in the second half of Lawson’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Having flown out of the blocks to be in the points and looking like a possible career-best finish, a pit-stop error effectively ended the Kiwi’s race.
A mistake during his first pit stop saw Lawson’s front left wheel not attached correctly, needing a second stop to fix it. Then, to rub salt in the wound, the team was hit by a 10-second penalty.
To cap it all off, from the back of the grid, Lawson pushed so hard to make his way back that his engine gave out right at the end.
Error aside, that makes it three races in a row where Lawson has been hit by his team’s mistakes.
In Las Vegas, Racing Bulls kept him out on hard tyres for too long, and gave him too much to do in the cold conditions once he eventually did come in for his stop.
Last week, in Qatar, the Herald understands Racing Bulls’ pit crew erred again by not correctly adjusting Lawson’s front wing after the safety car.
Hence, we saw Lawson and Tsunoda both pit for soft tyres, with the Kiwi considerably slower in the same machinery.
Formula One is a team sport. So much of what happens goes beyond what the drivers do on track.
But it’d be harsh to hold it against a driver when they’re being let down behind the scenes.
Adios, Sergio
“It’s just a matter of discussing what’s best for everyone going forward. We’ll see what happens.
“At the moment, that’s all I know. I have a contract to drive next year. It will be down to reaching an agreement, and seeing what the team wants to do.”
Those were the words of Sergio Perez, immediately after his race was ended by a first-lap collision with Valtteri Bottas.
As a Kiwi, it’s been too easy to paint Perez as some kind of villain, going directly up against our best and brightest for a spot among the elite.
In reality, Perez deserves nothing but respect for what he’s achieved in the sport. You don’t tick off more than 250 races unless you belong at the highest level.
If it weren’t for Perez holding off Lewis Hamilton at Abu Dhabi in 2021, Max Verstappen would not be a four-time world champion.
In a sport that celebrates ego, Perez was nothing but a team player. It will be a real shame if it ends with a whimper like this.
The waiting game
If you’ve got any clue as to who Red Bull will back in 2025, bet your house on it. Now.
If reports are to be believed, Lawson is the front runner, as Red Bull’s shareholders continue to put pressure on the team to make use of its driver development programme – which hasn’t seen a promotion from junior to senior team since 2019.
Liam Lawson at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Photo / Getty Images
Elsewhere, junior driver Isack Hadjar let it slip he’ll be driving in Formula One next year, after settling for second in 2024. If correct, that means one of Lawson or Tsunoda won’t be at Racing Bulls.
Over the coming days, the organisation will meet for its end-of-season review, where Perez’s fate will be high on the agenda.
Tsunoda will also undertake Red Bull’s post-season test drive, perhaps as a chance to see if he can handle a car which Perez couldn’t.
All will be revealed in time.
Is Lawson ready?
There has been no shortage of voices backing the Kiwi to step up alongside Verstappen. For Red Bull, it’s not an ‘if’, it’s ‘when’.
But, if it was to happen now, would Lawson have the tools to handle the pressures of being in a top team?
With two stints in the past two years, Lawson now has 11 races under his belt. When Perez made the same step up next to Verstappen, he had 195 races worth of experience.
Perez isn’t the only driver to struggle next to Verstappen either. Alex Albon only lasted 26 races as his teammate, Pierre Gasly managed just 12.
However, the Herald understands Red Bull’s internal psychometric evaluations have found Lawson to be better placed than both Gasly and Albon when they made the same move.
