Williams told to “shop around” for Lawson amid three-way AlphaTauri tussle
Lawson scored his first F1 points in just his third race as a stand-in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri with an impressive performance at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The 21-year-old grabbed headlines as he knocked out Max Verstappen’s Red Bull to seal his first Q3 appearance, before converting that into a ninth-place finish in the race.
With the underperforming Logan Sargeant struggling for form and yet to get off the mark for Williams as he battles to save his seat, Chandhok suggested the British squad should make a move for Lawson to partner Alex Albon.
“If I was Williams, I would definitely be looking at Liam Lawson,” former HRT and Lotus driver Chandhok said on Sky.
“You’ve got to have the conversation, haven’t you? Because, you know, Albon’s out-qualified Sargeant on every occasion, he has had scored all the points so far for Williams.
“If you are Williams, you should be shopping around and Liam Lawson has put himself on the market in a very good way.”
There are just three seats left on the F1 2024 grid and two of them are at Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri.
Lawson is in a three-way tussle for one of the two seats alongside Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda and has made it clear he is targeting a full-time drive for next season.
"I've been beating the drum since before driving in F1 trying to get this shot and now I have this opportunity I'm just trying to maximise it,” he told Sky.
"I have this very short window and I basically want to get to the end of it and look back and know that I've done everything I could.
"It's tricky to get a full time seat in this sport but rather than looking at all those external things for me it's just focusing on every session, trying to maximise each time I'm in the car and show what I can.”
The New Zealander may find himself going head-to-head with Ricciardo for the final spot amid reports that Tsunoda is closing in on a new deal, which could be announced at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix - his home race.
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