How Liam Lawson’s RB test times compared to Tsunoda and Ricciardo’s qualifying efforts at Monza

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Red Bull Racing have been using the break between the Italian Grand Prix and the upcoming street race in Baku to test Liam Lawson’s credentials.

Only two seats remain on the grid for 2025 with Sauber still indecisive about who will join Nico Hulkenberg next year.

The other vacancy is at RB with Yuki Tsunoda confirmed for next year but Red Bull has yet to decide who will join him.

It appears as though their choice is down to two candidates: Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson.

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Despite leading the Formula 2 championship, it doesn’t appear as though Isack Hadjar is in contention for an F1 promotion.

Ricciardo is the man in the hot seat right now but trails Tsunoda in the Drivers’ Championship and has failed to live up to expectations given he’s an eight-time Grand Prix winner.

Helmut Marko has already said that Lawson will be in a race seat next year which might mean the end of Ricciardo’s time in F1.

Red Bull are giving Lawson every opportunity to prove his worth and he’s taken part in two days of testing this week, as per Formu1a.uno.

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On the first day, Lawson tested alongside George Russell in the RB20 as part of a Pirelli tyre test.

On Wednesday, Lawson was in this year’s RB but the test didn’t go to plan for him or Pirelli.

Liam Lawson takes part in RB test as he fights for 2025 Formula 1 seat

On the second day of testing at Monza, Lawson was asked to test some new slick tyres for Pirelli in the VCARB01.

However, rain fell overnight meaning Lawson had to start on the intermediate tyres before ultimately completing 76 laps during the day.

Lawson suffered another setback as an engine problem brought his running to a premature end.

The young Kiwi set a best time of 1:22.530, which would have seen him qualify last by quite some distance last Saturday.

READ MORE: Who is Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know

Tsunoda was eliminated in Q1 with a 1:20.945 while Ricciardo went out in Q2 with a 1:20.479.

Ultimately, without knowing the program Lawson was on, it’s hard to know just how close or far away from his two rivals he was.

However, RB will have all the data they need to know whether he was in the right ballpark to earn a full-time race seat next year.

Ted Kravitz thinks Liam Lawson announcement is coming before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

In the context of the driver’s market, there isn’t a reason for RB to rush into a decision between Lawson and Ricciardo.

However, Lawson has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave for free if he’s not offered a race seat in September.

With Audi previously having an interest in Lawson, RB know they have to let Lawson know their plans for him sooner rather than later.

Ted Kravitz believes an RB announcement is coming before the next race in Baku and while it won’t change anything on the grid in 2024, it could see a former race winner lose his seat to a man with just five Grand Prix to his name.