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Much has been speculated about Red Bull’s throng of drivers, perhaps none more so than Daniel Ricciardo.
One week his future at RB is in doubt and the next he’s in the frame to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull.
Whether Lawson gets a shot in F1 is somewhat dependent on what Red Bull decides to do with the aforementioned Ricciardo and Perez.
The Mexican, it would seem, is on borrowed time unless he picks up his performance in the lead-up to the summer break.
Despite signing a contract extension his results have fallen off drastically and performance clauses could see him axed.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, could go either way. Like Perez, he will be subject to performance clauses and a timely uptick could be the boost he needs to receive a promotion.
Since his stand-out performances as an injury replacement for Ricciardo, Lawson has been waiting patiently.
There’s been little interest shown in Lawson – at least publicly – from teams outside Red Bull.
Lawson himself has admitted he doesn’t know where he sits in the silly season and it begs the question how serious Red Bull is about giving him a full-time drive.
A recent test billed as a promotional filming run in an RB20 gave Red Bull some insight into Lawson’s capability against champion Max Verstappen and his off-sider Perez.
Not much has been said of the test beyond some whispers that Lawson wasn’t as quick as Red Bull would have liked.
However, the brief nature of the test – limited to just 33 laps – and wet conditions would not have helped Lawson’s cause.
Lawson’s rap sheet is an impressive one to date, albeit littered with runner-up finishes.
His most recent outing remains his five-race F1 cameo last year where he scored points in his third start at the Singapore Grand Prix.
In the four races that Tsunoda started while Lawson was his teammate, the Kiwi beat him in three of them.
