Lawson not viewing rest of season as ‘five races to get a Red Bull seat’ as he reveals what Marko told him after Austin

Liam Lawson has played down the idea that his five remaining races for RB in 2024 could put him in the frame for a seat at Red Bull next season, with the New Zealander insisting that his goal is more generally to “try and stay in Formula 1”.

Having returned to the grid in place of Daniel Ricciardo for the remainder of the campaign, Lawson got his comeback off to a good start last time out in Austin by scoring points in P9, despite starting from the back of the grid due to engine penalties.

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This comes amid continued speculation over the future line-ups at both teams in the Red Bull stable, leading to Lawson being asked ahead of this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix if he believes that the battle to be Max Verstappen’s team mate in 2025 is between himself, fellow RB driver Yuki Tsunoda and Red Bull’s incumbent Sergio Perez.

“Honestly I have absolutely no idea,” the 22-year-old said. “My goal obviously is to… I’ve been with Red Bull now for six years, and it would be my absolute goal to drive with them in the future. But whether that’s next year or any other year, I have no idea when that could be.

“And for me it’s about these races. I know I have five left – very, very important races – to have a seat in Formula 1, and honestly I’m not looking at it any way like it’s five races to get a Red Bull seat or something like that.

“It’s not like that for me, it’s just five races to do a job to try and stay in Formula 1.”

READ MORE: Beaming Lawson ‘definitely didn’t’ expect points on F1 return after massive grid penalty

In terms of whether that result in Austin came as something of a surprise – and if he expects there to be more to come from himself performance-wise – Lawson reflected: “I think there’s always more to come, the more time I spend in the car.

“But I don’t expect it to just happen every weekend, to improve. The track we’re at now, Mexico’s a very different style of circuit to Austin. We learned some great things in Austin, obviously for me getting used to the car I learned a huge deal.

“But in a way we start back from zero a little bit each track we go to, a lot of them are new tracks I’ve never driven before, and with the style of circuit here it’s totally different to Austin.

“I don’t expect to come in and just carry on that form, I think we’re going to be doing a lot of learning again on Friday.”

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And when quizzed on what Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said to him after his positive performance in Austin, Lawson responded: “He said ‘good job’, he said it was a good race and that’s basically what I got, which is more or less how it’s always been.

“I know what their expectations are of me, I don’t need them to tell me that. I know what they’re expecting me to do in the car, and with the situation we’re in right now fighting for sixth in the constructors’ – everybody’s goal right now is to get that across the line, and I know that’s what they’re expecting of me as well.”