Liam Lawson admits he can’t “settle for anything less” than staying in Formula 1 beyond his current stint at AlphaTauri.
The New Zealander was drafted in to replace injured Daniel Ricciardo from Saturday at the Dutch Grand Prix and has been very solid alongside Yuki Tsunoda.
Lawson is set to continue at AlphaTauri in Singapore and next weekend in Japan before Ricciardo’s likely return at the Qatar Grand Prix.
And after revealing the night race at Marina Bay to be his favourite on the F1 calendar, Liam revealed the special treat he has arranged with his father for this weekend.
“My dad actually used to promise me every year that he would take me to the Singapore Grand Prix, and in the end, we never went,” Lawson shared on Thursday.
“But he’s going to be coming to the Grand Prix this weekend, so actually I’m taking him!”
His strong performances so far have caused a dilemma for the Red Bull hierarchy on who will drive for the Faenza-based outfit in 2024.
And the 21-year-old is keen to make his stand-in role permanent.
“Right now, it’s race-by-race, and basically we see in the future,” the 21-year-old said on Thursday. “I think I’ll prepare for the next races like normal, but it’s race-by-race.
“I think now that… I’d say now that I’ve had a taste, it’s definitely something I’ve fallen in love with and I don’t think I can settle for anything less.”
The latest speculation from RACER has suggested Lawson could create an all-Australasian line-up with Ricciardo in 2024 with Tsunoda becoming a third driver at Red Bull, ala Alex Albon in 2021.
And AlphaTauri chief Peter Bayer has indicated it is between Lawson and Tsunoda for the second seat.
“My belief is that… obviously, we cannot only develop young drivers – we also have to be competitive,” he said via PlanetF1.
“I think, to be competitive nowadays, you need… in order to fulfil both cars, you need to have one experienced driver and one young one. That’s really what I’m trying to achieve, you know, to have an experienced one and a young one.
“Because then the young one will learn more from the experienced one, the experienced one will help us and, for example, Daniel helped us tremendously on setting up the car.
“So whilst we give feedback to a young driver, the experienced one gives us feedback, and I’m convinced you need to have those two.”