Why Red Bull didn’t want to immediately promote Liam Lawson despite Sergio Perez’s struggles

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The United States Grand Prix will see the return of Liam Lawson to the Formula 1 grid.

Daniel Ricciardo bid an emotional farewell to F1 at the Singapore Grand Prix, taking a fastest lap award with him.

RB have handed Liam Lawson his chance to earn a full-time contract for the 2025 season as he prepares for the final six race weekends of the campaign.

Helmut Marko has suggested that Yuki Tsunoda and Lawson are both candidates to race for Red Bull next season, with Sergio Perez continuing to fail to live up to expectations.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Sergio Perez’s life outside F1 from net worth to nickname

Red Bull have lost their lead in the Constructors’ Championship to McLaren despite Max Verstappen having a healthy lead in the driver’s standings.

A report from Motorsport-Total has now shared more details about the decision-making that led to Lawson’s return to F1.

Every Red Bull driver is centrally contracted, meaning Christian Horner and Marko can swap their drivers between their two teams with ease.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

At one point, Ricciardo was being lined up to replace Perez, but instead, the Mexican has been awarded a stay of execution.

It’s now been explained why Lawson has been placed at RB rather than immediately promoted alongside Verstappen.

The Kiwi is about to undertake an audition that could see him in a race-winning car in six months’ time.

Liam Lawson handed RB chance ahead of potential 2025 Red Bull promotion amid Sauber interest

It’s well known that a clause inserted into Lawson’s contract meant Red Bull had to act fast to avoid losing the 22-year-old driver.

His impressive cameo last year didn’t initially earn him a full-time race seat, but it was enough to force Red Bull into acting at some point this year.

The report suggests that Sauber had ‘shown interest’ in hiring Lawson knowing that he would be a free agent soon, forcing Red Bull’s hand when offering him an RB seat until the end of the year.

It was considered ‘too risky’ to lose Lawson, especially as Perez’s performances have been questionable and Verstappen’s long-term commitment to Red Bull is ‘not guaranteed’.

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Lawson did well enough in some of his Red Bull tests to prove he was worth retaining, but then a decision needed to be made on which team he would race for.

In the end, a decision was ‘quickly’ made for Lawson to step into Ricciardo’s race seat.

Red Bull chose not to place him in Perez’s position as they were unsure how Lawson would deal with the ‘significant burden’ of racing in an ‘extremely high-pressure environment’.

In fact, they believed that a poor showing against Verstappen could have brought a ‘premature’ end to his F1 career.

Who will replace Liam Lawson at RB in 2025 if he earns Red Bull seat next season

Lawson has a difficult job on his hands at the United States Grand Prix as he’s already got a ten-place grid penalty to contend with.

It’s also a Sprint Race weekend, meaning he’ll only have one 60-minute practice session to get to grips with the car.

Perez needs to up his game and if he can repeat his performance from Baku – minus the late collision with Carlos Sainz – then his seat will likely be safe.

However, RB have already lined up Lawson’s replacement should he – or Tsunoda – earn a swift promotion for 2025.

Red Bull’s junior program gives Horner and Marko plenty of options to choose from, but none have stood out in the way they would have liked since Verstappen.