Lawson impressed during a five-race cameo last year where Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand in practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.
However, he was overlooked for a race berth this season in favour of retaining Ricciardo and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, news that was delivered to him over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend last year.
Without a racing programme this year, Lawson is focused solely on his duties as reserve driver for both Red Bull Racing and RB.
That sees him travel to events and perform work in the simulator, though he is no longer eligible for Free Practice 1 outings having now competed in five races (for a rookie session, a driver must have competed in two or fewer grands prix).
The 22-year-old has even been tipped as a potential replacement for Ricciardo as soon as the Miami Grand Prix – a rumour discredited by Red Bull Racing, RB, Ricciardo’s management, and even Lawson’s own team.
However, it highlights the regard in which the Kiwi is held and the pressure within the Red Bull driver system.
“First of all, he’s a very good reserve driver,” Peter Bayer told Speedcafe of Lawson’s role.
“He’s keeping the fire warm under the two seats – they’re not getting lazy.
“At the same time, we do try and run him as much as we can. We’ve done a TPC [Testing Previous Car] in January in Imola. We want to do another one.
“So we try and give him as much track time as we possibly can afford.
“He’s doing simulator sessions and he’s with us. He’s an important part of the team, but I think that is really it.”
Lawson has long been a member of the Red Bull driver academy. He won the 2019 Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand and was second in that year’s Eurformula Open Championship.
Two seasons in FIA Formula 3 netted him three wins before five wins across two years in Formula 2 followed.
With no berth available in Formula 1 at the end of 2022, Red Bull elected to field him in the Super Formula championship in Japan, where he won on debut and finished second in the standings.
Midway through 2023, he admitted that he felt his F1 dream was beginning to slip away before his last-minute call-up to F1 in Zandvoort.
Having shown well, being sidelined this year has proved frustrating – a point both he and Red Bull acknowledge.
“He’s getting himself ready and at the same time, by being ready and by having shown what he’s capable of last year, he keeps that natural Red Bull pressure on,” Bayer reasoned.
“It’s an interesting situation because we have a bit of pressure from the bottom and the pull effect from the top, which obviously I do accept that it creates a certain pressure on the drivers.
“But I don’t think it’s bigger than in any other team,” he added.
“Actually, I think they’re better off with our team because there is more flexibility, there is more opportunity than another team {where] if you don’t perform well, then that’s it.”
Lawson is one of a cache of youngsters currently looking for an opportunity in F1.
Alpine has Jack Doohan in its ranks while Oliver Bearman showed his potential with a one-off appearance in place of Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia.
It’s widely expected that Bearman will land a drive with Haas while Lawson is tipped to fill one of the seats at RB.
The question for now is, which of its current two drivers does he replace?
