Liam Lawson says he is not thinking about a potential F1 seat in 2023 despite the uncertainty surrounding Pierre Gasly’s future within the Red Bull family.
Whether Pierre Gasly stays with Scuderia AlphaTauri or joins the Alpine F1 team is the next big part of F1’s ‘silly season’. Gasly has emerged as the frontrunner for the seat vacated by Fernando Alonso, in a way Oscar Piastri, in 2023.
Pierre Gasly has a contract for 2023 but faces obstacles regarding his future at Red Bull. He currently sits in the third seat within the Red Bull family behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
However, both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are under contract with Red Bull Racing. The former will be locked until his 2028 and the latter will be locked until the end of his 2024.
Pierre Gasly will therefore need to step away from Red Bull’s patronage if he is to advance his career.
The identity of the potential successor is a matter of intense speculation, with two names primarily related to the seat.
Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher is one of my favourites. The German is out of contract with Haas F1 team at the end of the season, the team has refused to talk about his future plans. He is also rumored to be graduating from the Ferrari Driver Academy.
Colton Herta is another name that has been suggested, but Americans face many hurdles to making it happen. Chief among them is the fact that he does not have an F1 superlicence and does not qualify for one. Given his proven pedigree in IndyCar, there are arguments that he could be granted exemption, a route that has previously been unsuccessful.
Red Bull can also look inside, with many of the drivers in its junior program starting to show signs that they are ready to progress.
Liam Lawson is definitely at the head of the line. The New Zealander, who has won three Formula 2 races this season, took part in free practice 1 for Scuderia AlphaTauri at the Belgian Grand Prix a little over a week ago.
“Of course I think it’s very easy to get excited,” Lawson said when asked about the possibility of qualifying for F1.
“This is F1, but at the end of the day I need to finish strong in F2.”
“It wasn’t the season I wanted and we were aiming to do well.”
“So we need to do a better job and finish strong. I honestly think that’s the biggest determinant of what happens in the future.”
“Of course there’s a lot going on. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the end, but for me the only focus is to drive this F2 car as fast as possible.”
20-year-old Liam Lawson says he tries not to think too much about the situation, especially if it could bring a driver outside of Red Bull’s program to F1 ahead of him.
“At the end of the day, it serves no purpose,” said Liam Lawson.
“Luckily, I have been in this program for nearly four years.”
“It’s easier year by year to deal with external pressure. Four years ago you had different drivers in front of you and around you, because there’s always a good number of Red Bull drivers.”
“So at the moment, I don’t think it’s worth watching. To be honest, I don’t really care. Right now I’m focused on this job[F2].”
Category: F1 / Alpha Tauri / red bull