Christian Horner hints at Liam Lawson audition for Red Bull F1 2025 seat
Liam Lawson has a chance at sealing a Red Bull F1 seat in 2025, Christian Horner has hinted.
Christian Horner has suggested that Liam Lawson has an opportunity to stake a claim for an F1 seat with Red Bull in 2025.
Lawson has been parachuted in at Red Bull’s sister team RB for the remainder of the 2024 F1 season as a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo, who was dropped after Singapore. The 22-year-old New Zealander has six races to impress, starting at the United States Grand Prix.
Red Bull team principal Horner has indicated that Lawson will have the chance to earn a promotion to the senior team and potentiality replace Sergio Perez, despite the Mexican being under contract until the end of 2025.
“We need answers for the bigger picture in terms of drivers,” Horner told the F1 Nation podcast.
“With six races remaining, it's the perfect opportunity to line Liam up alongside Yuki [Tsunoda] to see how he performs over the remaining six grands prix.
“This goes beyond VCARB, it encompasses Red Bull Racing. Obviously we’ve got a contract with Sergio for next year, but you’ve always got to have an eye out in terms of what comes next.
“Is that going to be Liam or do we need to look outside the pool? Will one of the other juniors step up in the fullness of time, whether it’s Isack Hadjar or Arvid Lindblad.”
After making five cameo outings last season in place of the injured Ricciardo, Lawson will get another chance to prove himself against Yuki Tsunoda, who has already been confirmed at RB for next year.
“Last year Liam jumped in and he beat Yuki in Singapore and Japan and was quick from the outset, and he’s a tough racer. We know that. He’s very adaptable,” Horner explained.
“Certainly the testing he’s done for us in the Red Bull Racing car this year has been very encouraging.
“We know that Yuki is a very fast driver. He can definitely extract a lap.
“He’s not a rookie anymore. It’s his fourth year of grand prix racing, he’s got a lot of experience under his belt now.
“Taking him as the data point, we saw with Daniel where he compared to Yuki. It will be very interesting to see how Liam performs over the last six remaining races.”
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