Liam Lawson explains what Christian Horner told him last year about driving for RB this season

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Red Bull’s sister team RB doesn’t always attract too much attention but they’ve been at the centre of events in Formula 1 recently.

Daniel Ricciardo arrived at the final race before the autumn break in Singapore knowing that his future was a hot topic.

However, as the weekend progressed, it became clear that Ricciardo was less and less likely to be on the grid at the United States Grand Prix.

The news finally arrived a few days after the race in Singapore that Ricciardo was going to be replaced by Liam Lawson for the final six races of the season.

Lawson performed very well last season when he deputised for Ricciardo after he picked up an injury at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Five races later, Lawson was out of the car again with the Australian allowed to see out the rest of the season.

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Lawson was speaking to the F1 Nation Podcast and spoke about his upcoming return to the grid.

The Kiwi also shared what Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told him last year about being given an opportunity to race this season.

It suggests that the writing was always on the wall for Ricciardo or teammate Yuki Tsunoda, depending on which driver performed worse up to this point in the campaign.

What Christian Horner told Liam Lawson about his F1 return this season

Talking about his second F1 opportunity came about, Lawson said: “The idea of me jumping in is something that Christian told me a year ago.

“When I stepped out of the car, that was one of the things he said to me, is that he said, I give you my word, I’ll basically have you in a race seat at some point next year.

“So I always knew that that was the intention and been talked about. I mean, as you know, Formula One is a rollercoaster and every weekend things change.

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“So one minute it looks really good, and then it doesn’t look good. And it’s all depending on how the guys are actually going.

“[It’s] a bit horrible to be honest, because you’re kind of sitting there, wondering what your chances are of driving it and it completely depends on how the guys that are currently driving are doing.

“So, it wasn’t like, in 12 months’ time, you’re going to switch with this person. It was in 12 months time, we’re going to have you at seat, but we just don’t know where yet.”

How Drive to Survive handled Liam Lawson’s exit last season

Lawson’s battle with Tsunoda was always going to be an issue covered on Netflix’s Drive to Survive given he was replacing one of their main characters.

Ricciardo had a huge influence on the success of Drive to Survive when the first season primarily focused on Red Bull.

However, when he was injured, Lawson was thrust into the spotlight and he impressed by out-qualifying Max Verstappen in Singapore and beating Tsunoda at his home race in Japan.

Drive to Survive caught the moment Horner told Lawson he wouldn’t continue with the team beyond his five-race stint.

At the time, it made sense as Ricciardo’s potential was extremely high and he would have been much better suited to coping with the pressure of replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull if the need arose.

However, he was never able to reach the required level and Lawson now has another audition to confirm his place in Formula 1 going forward.