Liam Lawson reveals Red Bull performance expectations as promotion possibility addressed

Liam Lawson has revealed what Red Bull is expecting of him in the final races of F1 2024 as he steps up into a VCARB race seat.

The Kiwi driver has spent the last 12 months on the sidelines as a reserve for the two Red Bull F1 teams, but will take over Daniel Ricciardo’s vacated cockpit for the final six races of the F1 2024 championship.

Liam Lawson: Scoring points is the target

Having impressed during his five-race run last year as he substituted for Ricciardo at AlphaTauri when the Australian picked up a hand injury in a crash, Lawson is coming back with a markedly different dynamic as he bids to secure a full-time seat for F1 2025.

But, given he hasn’t taken part in any racing series this year and, aside from a handful of testing opportunities, hasn’t been behind the wheel of an F1 car much in the last 12 months, what exactly are the targets being laid out in front of Lawson to achieve that goal?

“Basically, they’re expecting me to perform at least as well as Yuki, I would say, is what the goal is from the team,” Lawson explained on the F1 Nation podcast.

“They want me to match him and basically perform. They want points.

“Obviously, the team is fighting for sixth in the Constructors’, and that’s quite important for VCARB, so to basically score points is the goal.

“If we’re scoring points, then I think, at that point, we’re basically doing a good job.

“So that’s, honestly, the target that’s been set. But we’re always being evaluated. It’s been like this since I was 16, joining Red Bull, it’s always performance that’s always under evaluation.

“So it’s no different to how it’s always been.”

For now, the obvious goal for Lawson is to simply secure the vacant cockpit at VCARB for F1 2025, but the possibility of him immediately jumping up to Red Bull Racing for next season has also been mooted through the rumour mill in recent months.

Sergio Perez has struggled for most of this season, contributing to the Milton Keynes-based squad falling to second in the championship, but the recent discovery and acknowledgment of the team’s developmental misstep may have put the Mexican driver back on a more even keel.

Perez is under contract with Red Bull for F1 2025 but, should the team opt for a change, Lawson is a leading candidate to slot in beside Max Verstappen – but he’s not giving that possibility much thought right now, given he isn’t confirmed for any seat at all yet.

“It’s not in my mind,” he said.

“But I’m definitely aware that being in the second team of Red Bull Racing that the future, if I do a good job, is going to be going there.

“My goal is to go to Red Bull Racing in the future and I know that obviously, from their side as well, they’re trying to look for the future, for when either Max or Checo [Perez] eventually go somewhere.

“Then they always need drivers to be ready for that. So I’m basically aware that, if I do a good job, that’s where my future is.

“When that can happen, that’s not something I’m really thinking about, because I know that it’s going to completely depend on how I go in my current seat.”

More on Red Bull in F1

? Inside Red Bull: Christian Horner and the other major players in Red Bull’s hierarchy

? All the mid-season driver swaps Red Bull have made in their F1 history

Liam Lawson: Helmut Marko pressure prepared me for this

With only six races to decide his F1 2025 future, the pressure is well and truly on Lawson to dig deep and perform to a level to convince his Red Bull bosses he is deserving of a full-time seat.

It’s a big challenge awaiting Lawson, given his lack of preparedness and time behind the wheel compared to his grid rivals, but the Kiwi said the pressure he’s feeling is something he’s been prepared well for by the ‘sink or swim’ approach of Red Bull’s junior programme under Helmut Marko.

“The hardest part is when you’re very young,” he said of the programme.

“For me, when I was 16 and 17 years old and 17 years old, my first year with Red Bull was going from not being with a junior team and just having my guys from New Zealand who have helped me get to where I was at that point, to then have Red Bull Racing and have Dr. Marko calling and putting the pressure on you.

“That was what I really struggled to deal with.”

Asked about Marko’s methods, Lawson said: “It’s normally a 6 am phone call or something like that! And it’ll be, ‘You need to perform better. Next weekend, if you don’t perform better, you’re in trouble’.

“You know you need to basically win races. It’s quite often if you haven’t had a good race, ‘If this continues, you may not have a future with this team’.

“It’s very cutthroat. But, honestly, dealing with that, I’m so thankful to have gone through that with Helmut, honestly.

“Because to now be at this point and going into F1, it’s a huge amount of pressure to step in and, without having that kind of pressure from a young age, I don’t think stepping in this late the season, or stepping in like last year, for example, I don’t think I would have been able to deal with it without having gone through five years of having Helmut.”

Read Next: Red Bull RB21 design hint dropped in FIA wind tunnel stance change verdict