Following a five-race stint last season in place of the injured Daniel Ricciardo, Lawson has been promoted in place of the Australian for the final six races of 2024.

In his first two races back, the 22-year-old has proved a feisty competitor on the track, with run-ins with Fernando Alonso in the United States and Sergio Perez last weekend in Mexico.

He also had contact with Franco Colapinto in the latter stages of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Perez incident was especially noteworthy given the pressure the Red Bull Racing driver faces to retain his seat next year.

While he has a signed contract, it’s understood he has already breached terms that would allow Red Bull Racing to make a change should it wish.

Lawson is viewed as the man most likely to replace him, even above the more established Yuki Tsunoda.

Hence the clash with Perez in Mexico City had added spice, with much made of the New Zealander flipping off the local favourite late in proceedings.

While Lawson apologised for those antics, he was steadfast on the way he went racing.

“I think it was an on-track fight, and I apologised for what I did after the incident,” he said.

“But in terms of the fight we had on track, it was deemed as a racing incident and something that was an in-the-moment battle.”

It was a clash that left Perez with damage and Dr Helmut Marko, the man who can decide Lawson’s fate, less than impressed.

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“I mean it’s clear, you know, the target is not obviously crash into any car, but especially a Red Bull car,” the Kiwi conceded.

“It wasn’t obviously my target in the moment, in the incident either. I was trying to avoid that.

“Looking back, maybe there’s things I could have done differently, I could have cut the chicane and avoided it completely.

“But in the moment, I’m racing as well. You have a split second to make this decision.

“It’s something I’ve spoken to the team about afterwards and I’ve reflected on, and I’ll learn from going into this weekend.”

The Mexico City performance followed an impressive run from 19th on the grid in the United States Grand Prix to ninth, and two points on his F1 return.

Though his drive last Sunday failed to net similar results, it was equally combative with hallmarks of Max Verstappen – traits that seemingly make Lawson an even better fit for the Red Bull Racing drive.

“I don’t know how to answer,” Lawson admitted when that was put to him.

”I’m not the person deciding that stuff.

“I race the way I race and that’s how I’ve always been.

“I’ll learn from my mistakes that I made but, at the same time, I’ll take advice from everybody I can.

“My target is not to go out and make enemies with anybody, that’s not the goal.

“But at the same time I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to win.

“That won’t change,” he added of his aggressive approach to racing.

“That attitude towards racing and how I approach races in Formula 1 won’t change. That’s how I’ll always be.

“At the same time, there’s things in there; if I make mistakes, I’ll always learn from them.

“Clearly, in Mexico, I made a mistake and I’ll learn from it.”