Shop
The New Zealander impressed during a five-race cameo last season when Daniel Ricciardo was sidelined with a broken wrist.
With effectively no preparation and thrown into one of the worst-performing cars on the grid, the 22-year-old managed a points-paying finish in the Singapore Grand Prix.
To that point, it was the team’s best result of the season.
Lawson was overlooked for a permanent call-up with AlphaTauri (as RB was then known), confirming Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda for 2024.
That has left the Kiwi on the bench this year without a racing programme, with the expectation that he’ll land one of the two RB drives next year, but there’s no guarantee.
“Honestly, there’s no set timeline for my future,” Lawson admitted when asked by Speedcafe if he’d been given an indication as to when he might learn his future.
“There’s nothing set in stone, obviously, with my future.
“Basically, for me, it’s about staying ready and hopefully we have some opportunity coming.”
As reserve driver to RB and Red Bull Racing this year, it has been suggested Lawson is keeping the fire warm under Ricciardo and Tsunoda and is a favourite of Helmut Marko.
Ironically, Lawson’s stint in F1 last year now counts against him as he can no longer participate in Free Practice 1 sessions.
Rules in F1 mandate that teams must run a rookie – a driver with fewer than three F1 starts to their name – in both of their cars on one occasion.
It’s a way to offer the next generation an opportunity behind the wheel of a current car without adding cost.
With five races under his belt, Lawson no longer meets that criteria.
“I still feel like a rookie,” he confessed.
“It’ll basically be mostly simulator work,” he added of his 2024 programme, “and then going to all the races with the team as reserve.”
But while he faces an uncertain future, Lawson is steadfast in his determination to return to the grid.
“Obviously, it gives you confidence in yourself,” he said of his five-race stint last year.
“Every driver, at this level anyway, has enough self-belief to be in Formula 1 – you have to have it even to come close.
“But it’s different because obviously I always imagine what it would be to [like] drive in Formula 1,” he added.
“Now I know what it’s like. It’s a different perspective.
“I’ve had the smallest little taste of it, yeah, so it’s a different perspective.
“It definitely makes it more frustrating.”
Common wisdom was that Lawson would step into the RB currently occupied by Tsunoda at the end of the year.
While the Japanese driver had a strong start to 2023, he also made costly mistakes at key moments and was overshadowed by Ricciardo in the latter stages of the year.
In his fourth season of F1, Tsunoda has conceded that he needs to improve his communication skills and control his emotions in the car if he’s to be considered a replacement for Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing.
For now, the Mexican is delivering the job needed of him in support of Max Verstappen, suggesting that rather than fighting for a seat at the top table, Tsunoda and Ricciardo are instead fighting simply to remain in F1.
Two races into 2024, and Ricciardo is now the driver under pressure.
Though he beat Tsunoda in Bahrain, that because the team gifted him the position in the latter stages.
In Saudi Arabia, a poor stop left him at the back while a late spin underscored a lacklustre weekend – the silver lining being there was perhaps a technical explanation for Ricciardo’s lack of performance.
Even still, Marko has put the 34-year-old on notice. Should that axe be welded, Lawson seems a shoo-in.
