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Incomprehensible that there is no place in F1 for a talent like Lawson
Liam Lawson was thrown in at the deep end by Red Bull at Zandvoort and survived. The New Zealander scored points two race weekends later at a circuit where he had never raced before. Still, he does not seem to have a seat for 2024.
Who is Liam Lawson?
The 21-year-old Lawson has been considered a major talent for years. Born in Hastings, New Zealand, Lawson is not from a traditional Formula 1 country, but through multiple karting titles, he fought his way into Europe. Speaking to GPblog earlier this year, he indicated that it was crazily in his own country where he was picked up by Red Bull, namely during the 2019 Toyota Racing Series that Lawson won.
By then, Lawson had already made the move to Europe, finishing second in the prestigious ADAC Formula 4 championship in his first season on behalf of Dutch Van Amersfoort Racing. In early 2019, he signed with the Red Bull Junior Academy, and things moved quickly for Lawson. That year, he finished second in the Euroformula Open Championship and was on the podium in Formula 3 several times.
In 2020, Lawson made his real breakthrough. On behalf of Hitech, he was mostly plagued by bad luck but showed flashes of his immense talent with three wins. So in 2021, the pressure was on for the switch to F2, but Lawson finished only ninth. In 2022, Lawson finished third in the championship, but that was not enough for Helmut Marko to give a promotion.
Lawson as Ricciardo's replacement
Anyone who sees that route could argue that Lawson might be a bit short of a step into F1, but his leap into the deep end as Daniel Ricciardo's replacement shows the potential he has. Everyone waxed lyrical when Ricciardo was faster than Yuki Tsunoda in his first race weekend, but what of Liam Lawson? He has been rock solid three weekends in a row, narrowly missing out on points at Monza and gaining points in Singapore, where he has never driven before.
With those two points in Singapore, Lawson scored points, while experienced drivers Nyck de Vries and Ricciardo had not yet managed that in the combined first 12 races of the season. Tsunoda had already scored points but had also only managed three points in 15 races and had yet to finish ninth.
Of course, AlphaTauri's decision to pick the best possible drivers for 2024 is understandable. Just like Haas and Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri needs to score as well as possible and young drivers cost you a lot of points and, therefore money. With the dismissal of De Vries and the return of 34-year-old Ricciardo, Red Bull gave a clear signal for a culture change at AlphaTauri.
Still, you cannot imagine Lawson not getting a chance in F1 in 2024. Any other Red Bull junior would have had a seat at such a performance. Now it looks like AlphaTauri are opting for Ricciardo and Tsunoda. Experienced forces at the expense of a (great) talent.
Could Lawson be hired out to Williams?
The door remains open for a loanl. Christian Horner was already talking about the last remaining 2024 seat at Williams. Logan Sargeant does not yet have a new contract and is still scoreless. The American may bring American sponsors with him, but they do not fill the holes he costs with all his crashes and scoreless results.
In that respect, it is also painful for Sargeant that Lawson, of all people, has already scored points in F1. Sargeant got 15 chances before that and already saw Alexander Albon score 21 points. So the fact that Williams is not fast enough is not a valid argument. Indeed, you could even argue that the Williams car has offered more chances for points than the AlphaTauri.
Whereas Lawson seems to adapt quickly to Formula 1, Sargeant has had more trouble doing so. After all, you cannot speak of a big difference in talent. In 2022, they still raced together at Carlin in F2, and Lawson finished one point and one place above Sargeant in the championship. So the two were not much apart a year ago.
Red Bull always showcases their own training, but few talents have advanced to F1 in recent years anyway. Now, if a talent that shows he can hold his own in F1 is still not given a chance, it is a big slap in the face for all talents. AlphaTauri was pretty much the last place where talents got a chance. If it can no longer be done there, where else can their young talents go?