Martin Brundle tells Liam Lawson what he must do to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull next season

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The United States Grand Prix is the first of six huge opportunities for new RB driver Liam Lawson.

Red Bull made the difficult decision after the previous race in Singapore to part ways with Daniel Ricciardo after a failed experiment to see if he had what it takes to replace Sergio Perez.

While the Mexican hasn’t set the world of F1 alight this year, Ricciardo needed to get the better of teammate Yuki Tsunoda to be in with a shot of returning to the senior team but he finishes his career 10 points behind the Japanese driver.

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It means Liam Lawson is the latest driver to be placed up against Tsunoda to try and prove to team principal Christian Horner and chief advisor Helmut Marko that he’s worthy of challenging Max Verstappen.

Marko has admitted that Tsunoda is now a candidate for a Red Bull promotion which is in stark contrast to the feeling around the team earlier in the year, but also highlights, firstly, his improvement over the past 12 months, but also how the team have had to lower their expectations.

Martin Brundle was speaking to Sky Sports F1 about Lawson’s second debut and how he thinks he’ll fare.

He made it clear that he has no time to get up to speed in such a cutthroat business and sent the Kiwi a simple message if he wants Perez’s seat in 2025.

Martin Brundle tells Liam Lawson what he must do to earn Sergio Perez’s Red Bull seat

Asked about how he believes Lawson will fare at the United States Grand Prix and beyond, Brundle said: “If we look at what he did last year, probably with a lot less pressure and expectation on him, he looked good!

“So, this is it. This is not a finishing school, this is deliver or you’re out.

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“We all got into F1 as F1 drivers because somebody else got kicked out! And then you get kicked out and somebody else gets the chance, that’s just the natural way of it!

“Lawson’s has been biding his time and it’s a fashion business, it all had to be experienced drivers for five minutes a little while ago, all of a sudden [Oliver] Bearman rocks up, and Kimi Antonelli rocks up and [Franco] Colapinto in the Williams.

“All of a sudden the fashion is let’s get an F2 driver. It looks like you can get any one of them they’ll do a good job! I think Lawson will be fine.”

Brundle is then asked what he needs to do to replace Perez next year and continues: “If he does a really good job, he could yeah!”

Daniel Ricciardo’s final message to Liam Lawson before leaving F1

Lawson has the difficult task of not only replacing a driver who has eight Grand Prix wins to his name, but someone who was also an extremely popular figure in the paddock.

Ricciardo was one of the stars of Drive to Survive for a reason but Lawson’s focus has to be on improving his performance in the car rather than trying to be a big character away from the track.

After the Singapore Grand Prix, Ricciardo shared a message with Lawson when he knew he was being replaced.

It was a classy touch from the 35-year-old and although he’s not yet known what he’ll do next, it’s hard to see him staying away from racing for long.

For Perez, the pressure has been on since the middle of last season when his performances dropped off even though Red Bull were in the midst of their most dominant season.

He’s seen off challenges from several drivers already but knows how important the next six races are going to be.