There are many storylines to follow in the final stretch of the 2024 season. In almost traditional fashion, Red Bull’s driver line-up will be at the centre of discussion across F1 news outlets. For Liam Lawson, the next 6 races are essentially his audition for a Red Bull seat next year.
Liam Lawson vs Tsunoda – Red Bull to evaluate their options
If there was any doubt after the Singapore GP, there can be none now. Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda are both fighting for a Red Bull contract, as Christian Horner assesses their abilities.
It is no secret that Sergio Perez is under pressure. Since the beginning of 2023, the 6-time winner as scored almost 500 fewer points than Max Verstappen.
Considering the calibre of drivers at Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, this statistic is unacceptable for Red Bull. Looking ahead to next season, the defending Champions want the strongest duo possible – this point has now been emphasised by several senior figures at Red Bull.
Lawson is Christian Horner’s preferred choice to be promoted, whilst Helmut Marko has spoken in glowing terms about Tsunoda for some time now.
Over the next few weeks, Liam Lawson has revealed that beating Tsunoda is the target Red Bull have set.
Red Bull to eagerly analyse VCARB’s inter-team battle
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s US GP, Lawson reflected on this objective:
“Pretty much what I expected,” he admitted to F1TV.
“They don’t want to see me going in there and seeing me outperformed for the rest of the year. But it’s always been like that.
“With Yuki, we’ve been compared since we were 17 or 18 years old. He’s had a really good start to the season, and he’s been performing better this year than any other year.
“But also the team has changed up a lot this year, and is heading in a really great direction so it’s exciting to be part of that as well.”
Three of the final six race weekends of 2024 will be Sprints. For a variety of reasons, this will throw a spanner in the works for VCARB’s driver duo.
In such a limited time period, it will be difficult for either Lawson or Tsunoda to distinguish themselves. Producing noticeable results is also dependent on the VCARB 01 becoming more competitive, which is far from guaranteed.
Assuming the Faenza-based team can fight for points, Red Bull should have more data to make a final call on their 2025 line-up.
