Christian Horner 'gave his word' that Liam Lawson would get 2024 F1 seat

Liam Lawson says Red Bull boss Christian Horner told him last year he would be guaranteed an F1 seat at some point during the 2024 season.

The 22-year-old New Zealander has replaced Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull’s sister team RB for the rest of the season, with six grands prix and three sprint races remaining.

Lawson has acted as Red Bull’s reserve driver since 2022 and contested five races last season when Ricciardo was ruled out after breaking his hand in a practice crash at Zandvoort.

After an impressive cameo, with his best performance coming in Singapore where he outqualified Max Verstappen to reach Q3 and scored points, Lawson revealed Horner promised him a drive with one of Red Bull’s teams in 2024.

“The idea of me jumping in is something that Christian told me a year ago,” Lawson told the F1 Nation podcast.

“When I stepped out of the car, that was one of the things he said to me that, he said ‘I give you my word I’ll basically have you in a race at some point next year’.

“So I always knew that was the intention and it had been talked about.

“As you know Formula 1 is a rollercoaster and every weekend things change. So one minute it looks really good and then it doesn’t look good and it’s all depending on how the guys are actually going.

“It’s a bit horrible to be honest because you’re sitting there wondering what your chances are of driving and it completely depends on how the guys that are currently driving are doing.

“And you don’t obviously want somebody’s downfall to be your way in but for me to drive somebody has to leave, obviously.

“There was no clear route of where that was going to be though. So it wasn’t like ’in 12 months time, you are going to switch with this person’, it was ‘in 12 months time we’re going to have you a seat, we just don’t know where yet’.

“So that was where, throughout the year, the discussions were being had and it was actually Baku time when Christian finally told me I’d be jumping in.”

Asked what he has been told by Red Bull he needs to achieve in order to get a full-time seat for 2025, Lawson replied: “Basically they are expecting me to perform at least as well as Yuki.

“That’s the goal from the team. They want me to match him and perform. They want points. The team is obviously fighting for sixth in the constructors’ and that’s quite important for VCARB.

“So basically to score is the goal and at that point we’re basically doing a good job. Honestly, that’s the target that’s been set. But we’re always being evaluated. It’s been like that since I was 16 joining Red Bull.

“It’s always performance-based. We’re always under evaluation, so it’s no different really to how it’s always been.”