Christian Horner gives huge endorsement to driver looking for way back to F1

Christian Horner has stated that Liam Lawson’s stand-in performances at AlphaTauri mean it “certainly won’t be his last race in F1”, once Daniel Ricciardo retakes his seat.

Lawson has stood in for the injured Ricciardo as AlphaTauri reserve and earned significant plaudits for how quickly he got up to speed against Yuki Tsunoda, scoring his first points in Formula 1 in the heat and humidity of Singapore on only his third appearance.

While Tsunoda and Ricciardo have both now been confirmed as AlphaTauri’s drivers for 2024 with Lawson on the sidelines as reserve for both Red Bull and AlphaTauri, the Red Bull team boss is sure Formula 1 has not seen the last of Lawson.

Christian Horner lauds ‘great job’ done by Liam Lawson

Lawson finished ahead of Tsunoda 3-1 in their mini head-to-head battle at AlphaTauri in race trim, an impressive feat considering he was parachuted into the seat with less than a day’s notice following Ricciardo’s broken metacarpal at Zandvoort.

That led to clamour among some fans for Lawson to be awarded a full-time drive in 2024, but while that is not the case, the Red Bull team principal is confident he will be back on the grid further down the line.

“I think he’s done a great job,” Horner told reporters in Qatar.

“You know, jumping in with zero mileage in the car and he’s acquitted himself well as a Grand Prix driver, and I think he’s caught all our attention in terms of the job that he’s done.

“It certainly won’t be his last race in F1, I’m sure of that with what he’s done in these five races, I think that he’s demonstrated that he deserves an opportunity in the future.”

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Lawson confirmed he will be in the paddock in Austin on reserve duties, should Ricciardo be fully recovered, before returning to Japan to complete the Super Formula season, having competed over there for much of the year.

He’s mounting a title challenge in the highly-competitive series too, heading into the final round at Suzuka with a chance of winning the title, and AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost believes the preparation he has had in that series has served him well in Formula 1, with the likes of Pierre Gasly and Stoffel Vandoorne having raced in Japan in recent years.

“We will see,” Tost told Sky F1 when asked what the future might hold for Lawson.

“Liam wants more, he is doing a very good job, and I expect he wants to be competitive. He has learned a lot in the Japanese Super Formula, because the cars over there in the corners have similar speeds to Formula 1 and therefore he is really well prepared.”

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