Liam Lawson facing big Red Bull dilemma as he looks to reignite his F1 dream

Although for Liam Lawson racing for Red Bull would be a childhood dream come true, at the end of the day he just wants to race in F1.

Last season Lawson was Formula 1’s super sub as the Kiwi stepped in to replace the injured Daniel Ricciardo, the latter already a replacement driver for the ousted Nyck de Vries, at Red Bull’s junior team.

Would Liam Lawson leave Red Bull to fulfil his F1 dream?

Lawson spent five races with the team and scored points at the Singapore Grand Prix when he brought his car home in ninth place.

He achieved that feat despite being told 24 hours earlier that he would not be driving for the team in 2024 as they’d opted to retain Ricciardo alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

But returning to a reserve driver role for this year’s championship, a position he’s filling at both Red Bull and RB, Lawson is keen to find a spot on the 2025 F1 grid.

Asked on the Sky Sports podcast if he’d leave the Red Bull family to make that happen, he replied: “That’s a Netflix question right there!

“I want to be… obviously my dream is to drive with Red Bull. I’ve been with them for over five years now.

“And believe it or not, when I was a kid they were the team that I dreamed of driving for.

“When I was first going to Europe, I saw the junior drivers – at that point I wasn’t a junior – but I always thought it was so cool that there were these younger kids that I was racing who were kitted out in Red Bull gear and had their own miniature Formula One cars with Red Bull all over it.

“My dream is to drive for Red Bull, but you know at the end of the day my dream is to drive in Formula 1.

“So it’s a tricky one to answer.”

Told no one would begrudge him if he was offered a drive and chose to take it, he replied: “Yeah.”

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A different job in the Formula 1 paddock?

But if being a Formula 1 driver was not an option and the Kiwi had to choose one other job in the paddock, he’d be a commentator.

He’s already had some practice having commentated on his own races while playing F1 games as a kid.

“That’s really hard because if I wasn’t a driver I am a terrible spectator,” he said. “I struggle to watch so if I wasn’t a driver, maybe commentary honestly.

“Maybe something to do with commentary because when I was a kid and I was playing a Formula One game, I would commentate myself racing. So it’s something that I enjoy doing then, maybe I would enjoy doing it now.

“But honestly I really struggle to watch.”

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