Lawson perhaps not ’welcome’ for Red Bull race future

There may be no space in Red Bull’s Formula 1 race program for Liam Lawson.

The energy drink-owned outfit has clearly been trying to find a place for the impressive 22-year-old New Zealander, who is currently Red Bull’s full time F1 reserve.

"We have a strong driver who, contractually, can drive for another team if he does not get a seat with us in 2025," Red Bull F1 consultant Dr Helmut Marko told Kleine Zeitung earlier this year.

Earlier, it had looked possible that Lawson could be slotted in at the junior outfit RB for 2025 - with Daniel Ricciardo or Yuki Tsunoda potentially graduating to the top team in the place of Sergio Perez.

However, Red Bull Racing has now confirmed Perez for two more seasons - while Faenza based RB’s CEO Peter Bayer said in Monaco that he would like to retain both Ricciardo and Tsunoda for 2025.

"Red Bull’s decisions are sometimes not completely understandable," former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher told Sky Deutschland, "because they have a lot of people in their own junior program.

"But there are also financial reasons, because Max Verstappen is expensive and Perez brings in a lot of money through sponsors.

"You also hear that Christian Horner does not agree with restructuring the team," the German added. "That’s why he would have said Tsunoda will not end up at Red Bull.

"And I don’t think Liam Lawson is that welcome either."

So with potentially no room at RB or Red Bull Racing for Lawson next year, he appears to be contractually free to look around at other F1 teams for 2025.

"I have no idea," Lawson smiled when asked about his future by Talksport. "Everything is changing at the moment. There are a lot of drivers moving around.

"At the moment, I don’t really know where I slot into that, or if I do at all. It’s something that I’m working towards every day at the moment," he said.

"I would love to be with Red Bull in F1. This is my sixth year with them now. But obviously, if there’s no seat there, my goal is F1. So that could be anywhere."

No matter the outcome, Lawson does not appear keen to simply remain Red Bull’s F1 reserve beyond this season.

"I don’t want to be in F1 because someone is injured," he said. "I want to be in F1 because a team chooses for me to be there full-time."