Lawson: “Red Bull wants me to be ready at all times.”

Liam Lawson made a strong impression during his stint in Formula 1. The New Zealander took part in five Grand Prix races with AlphaTauri, during Daniel Ricciardo’s absence. He showed a very promising pace and performance. Lawson scored two points in the championship, one more than Logan Sargeant at Williams after 20 races.

Initially, Lawson started his 2023 season in Super Formula. He made an impressive start right from the first weekend, becoming the first driver in 45 years to win a race in his debut. However, he narrowly missed out on the championship title, partly due to a crash at Suzuka which forced him to retire from the race after just 3 laps last weekend.

No main bucket

Liam Lawson was not selected as the main driver to race in F1 in 2024. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda have been extended with AlphaTauri. On the Red Bull side, both cars were already confirmed for 2024. However, due to his impressive performances, Lawson has been given a reserve driver position by the Austrian team. As a result, he will not be participating in the 2024 Super Formula season. “Obviously, I want to be able to race, but the goal is to be in F1,” Lawson stated in AutoSport. “It’s never nice to just watch, but I will try to make the most of this opportunity, just as I have been doing so far, in order to prepare myself. Even though I would love to drive a car, this is what Red Bull believes is the best thing for me at the moment. They want me to be fully focused, ready at any moment. I will definitely miss racing in Super Formula, especially since I haven’t won the title. It’s something I would have liked to achieve, but that’s how it is.”

At the end of the 2022 season, Red Bull had decided to send the driver from their academy to Super Formula to continue his progress.

The objective was for it to be as complete as possible to contend for a seat in the following seasons. “That’s exactly what Red Bull had told me,” Lawson said about the championship taking place in Japan. “I knew that the car was faster and getting closer to F1, but there are also things like team size, collaboration with a manufacturer like Honda, and the competitiveness of the race. There are many similarities between what we observe on the F1 simulator and what we do with this car. It has been a big part of my preparation for F1. I definitely wouldn’t have been as ready for F1 as I was if I hadn’t done the first part of the Super Formula season.”

Liam Lawson allowed AlphaTauri to win two additional points in the constructor championship.