Lawson was promoted to the second RB race drive alongside Yuki Tsunoda following the Singapore Grand Prix.
It was a move made with a view towards 2025 (and beyond), with Red Bull Racing bosses hedging their bets given Sergio Perez’s prolonged form slump.
Promoting the New Zealander now affords Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko an opportunity to directly assess him against Tsunoda.
When Lawson was announced as Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement at RB, only his 2024 plans were confirmed, leaving open the possibility that he could be promoted to the squad’s senior team.
However, the wildcard is interest in Franco Colapinto, which would likely see the Argentinian given the seat instead.
Colapinto has made a splash since taking over from Logan Sargeant at Williams.
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner is known to have met with James Vowles over securing the 20-year-old’s services for 2025.
Should those efforts be successful, it would likely see Lawson remain with the junior team next season, though it’s not the only team known to harbour interest.
“I think Liam is in a win-win,” said Albon, who was once in a similar position.
“I feel like worst case scenario he’s in an RB.
“I mean, in my head, do you need to jump into the main team that quickly against Max?
“From my experience, it’s not a bad thing to spend a couple of years learning your craft a bit more.
“But of course if there’s the opportunity, and if you’re going to have the opportunity, you have to take it.”
Albon entered Formula 1 in 2019 with Toro Rosso before being promoted to the squad’s senior team after just 12 races.
At the end of 2020, having scored less than half the points of Verstappen, he was dumped from in favour of Perez.
Between its two teams, Red Bull has Verstappen, Perez, Tsunoda and Lawson under contract.
Should Horner fail in securing Colapinto, it logically becomes a shootout between the current RB pairing for Perez’s drive with Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar in pole position for an F1 call-up.
“There’s clearly a bit of pressure, I would say, between the drivers to get that seat,” Albon said of the tension surrounding Perez’s drive.
“I think you feel that a little bit. I see it in the races, I see it in the moves. But that’s the game. I think two hungry drivers looking for spots at the top. And so I get it.”
Having been dumped as a race driver by Red Bull, Albon spent a year raced in the DTM (as team-mate to Lawson) before finding a berth back in F1 courtesy of Williams.
Having been partnered with Nicholas Latifi, Sargeant, and Colapinto during his tenure with the Grove team, he will be joined by Ferrari refugee Carlos Sainz next season.
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