Liam Lawson’s future in Formula One appears to be with Red Bull, as the team’s head of driver development backed the young Kiwi to step into sister outfit Racing Bulls in the near future.
Lawson, 22, is currently locked in a two-way shootout with Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo for a 2025 Formula One seat with Red Bull’s sister side.
The two drivers are competing for one place across Red Bull’s two teams, as world champion Max Verstappen, teammate Sergio Perez and Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda are all signed beyond the current season.
Speaking to Austrian outlet Kleine Zeitung, though, Dr Helmut Marko outlined pressure from above to go with a younger driver, Lawson.
“The shareholders have made it known that it is a junior team and we have to act accordingly,” he said .
“The goal was that he [Ricciardo] would be considered for Red Bull with exceptional performances. That seat now belongs to Perez, so that plan is no longer valid.
“We will have to put a young driver in there soon. That would be Liam Lawson.”
Lawson is currently the reserve driver for both Red Bull and Racing Bulls, but his current contract contains a clause that would allow him to leave, should he not have a seat for next year.
Earlier this week, reports out of Europe linked Lawson with a move to Sauber, soon to be Audi, in 2025 – should they miss out on their top target, Carlos Sainz.
Sainz is widely expected to sign for Williams, as he prepares to leave Ferrari to accommodate seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton next year.
Lawson’s management told the Herald they were unaware of Red Bull’s intentions for the Kiwi, but expected to learn by Formula One’s upcoming mid-season break.
The 22-year-old Kiwi impressed last year deputising for Ricciardo, after he broke his hand at the Dutch Grand Prix. For five races, Lawson impressed behind the wheel for then-AlphaTauri, and beat Tsunoda in four.
Those results included a ninth-placed finish at Singapore, where Lawson also eliminated Verstappen from qualifying, a feat which no Red Bull stablemate has been able to consistently achieve before and after. Lawson’s ninth-place was AlphaTauri’s best result of 2023, until Tsunoda managed eighth in Las Vegas in the season’s penultimate race.
However, Red Bull moved to sign both Ricciardo and Tsunoda for 2024 before Lawson stepped into the car, and left the Kiwi with no seat and having to fill a reserve role for this year at the very least.
Lawson has outlined he would be prepared to leave the team to secure a full-time drive, but his first preference would be to stay with Red Bull, who have invested in him since he was a teenager.
Likewise, Red Bull are understood to be hesitant to losing Lawson, and therefore spurn the millions they have invested in his development.
The team have backed the Kiwi through junior categories Formula Three, Formula Two and the Japanese Super Formula championship.
The Herald understands Ricciardo is valued highly by Red Bull senior team principal Christian Horner, due to his off-track value.
Whether Marko’s stance on Lawson stepping into the Racing Bulls cockpit is echoed by Horner is yet to be seen, with the two understood to be at odds over the future of the team.
Since 2019, Ricciardo has been a central figure in Netflix’s Drive to Survive documentary series, which has seen Formula One’s popularity explode.
After being sacked by McLaren in 2022, Ricciardo remains one of the most popular drivers on the grid after returning to Red Bull through Racing Bulls last year.
However, while it was hoped he would challenge Perez to partner Verstappen in the senior side, results have not fallen the Australian’s way.
Ricciardo sits 12th in the driver’s championship with nine points after 10 races, with his best grand prix result being eighth in Canada. For reference, teammate Tsunoda has accrued 19 points in the same time to be 10th.
Despite Racing Bulls – formerly AlphaTauri and Toro Rosso – being seen as Red Bull’s junior team, no driver has been promoted upwards to the Red Bull senior team since 2019, when Alex Albon replaced Pierre Gasly as Verstappen’s partner.
Alex Powell is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.