Lawson’s Last Chance to Shine

Fifty-eight laps on Monday morning (NZT) could prove the making, or otherwise, of Liam Lawson’s Formula One future with Red Bull Racing. For all the conjecture surrounding which driver will take the seat alongside four times World Champion Max Verstappen, the reality is the sport’s most closely guarded secret.

Lawson could not shed any light on the matter, “I don’t, not right now. I think next week would be a time I’d expect to have some information, but I would say definitely not before the weekend. What I’m focused on is having a seat. This weekend is my last chance to show that and why I feel like I should be here. For the rest, it’s up to the team to decide where I should go.”

Depending on the story's origin, the Red Bull seat belongs to Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto, Lawson or the incumbent Sergio Perez. Each driver has a genuine claim; Perez, despite his poor performance this season, which has cost the team a manufacturer title and with it several million dollars, also brings mega-bucks into the team… not to mention he does have a contract for 2025.

Tsunoda’s Honda backing was always on his side, but RB is going to Ford power, so his attraction is Japan’s market of 124 million people, along with a recent improvement in his form.

Colapinto is the wild card, but after being talked up as the next big thing for the Milton Keynes team, they appear to have gone cold on the Argentinian; afterQatar, RB Advisor Helmut Marko said: “We’ll have a meeting after Abu Dhabi, but Colapinto’s name isn’t high on our list.”

Team boss Christian Horner told reporters, “He trusts the “strength and depth” of Red Bull’s academy and that they have “a full stable of drivers. I’m sure Franco will find a spot in the grid in the future.”

As for Lawson, if we park the Kiwi bias, he’s quick but still raw. He also has a better race pace…when he stays out of trouble. We haven’t seen his best over the past couple of races, something he acknowledged when talking ahead of this weekend, “I feel like I made the most of each opportunity,but I didn’t execute everything perfectly, and there’s stuff that I’ll learn from reflecting on these races. “I definitely tried and gave my best at every opportunity. Every decision, whatever I did at the time, felt like the best thing for me to do, but obviously, you never do the perfect race.”

Experience is on Lawson's side this weekend; he raced F2 at Yas Marina and made his F1 testing debut there in 2021.

I’m excited to be back on the track. It’s a fun one to drive, especially with the new layout and the Team has had success here in the past, so I’m optimistic. I’ve had a tough couple of races, so I’m hoping to finish the season on a high.”

Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Practice 1

Friday 10.30 pm

Practice 2

Saturday 2.00 am

Practice 3

Saturday 11.30 pm

Qualifying

Sunday 3.00 am

Grand Prix

Monday 02.00 am 

~ by Shaun Summerfield