Why Liam Lawson Didn’t Land An F1 Seat In 2024

Liam Lawson’s standout performances in the last three Grand Prix for AlphaTauri weren’t enough to secure the 21-year-old a seat in Formula 1 next season.

Red Bull, who owns AlphaTauri, retained Yuki Tsunoda and extended Daniel Ricciardo’s contract until the end of next season after he replaced the axed Nyck de Vries mid-season.

Liam Lawson Punched Above His Weight In F1

Lawson deputised for the Australian Ricciardo at the Dutch GP at Zandvoort after he suffered a broken hand in a crash during practice.

Ricciardo isn’t being rushed back into action by AlphaTauri and that gives Lawson a few more races to show what he is capable of.

The news of AlphaTauri’s drivers for next year was met with an audible moan from various sides of the paddock. Many people felt Lawson had done enough to eke ahead of Ricciardo in the pecking order for 2024.

After last weekend’s Japanese GP, when the announcement was made public, the messages coming out from Red Bull gave the impression that the team had decided on Tsunoda and Ricciardo when the latter was signed in late August.

Therefore Lawson never had a whisker of landing a drive in Formula 1 based on what Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said after the New Zealander scored his first points in Formula 1. “Lawson couldn’t have done any more to further his case,” Horner told the Race.

The young driver could make the potential move to Red Bull in 2025 depending on Sergio Perez’s form next year. The Red Bull junior driver will remain a reserve driver and will mostly do simulator work.

Is There A Case For Lawson To Join Williams In 2024?

With the AlphaTauri door firmly shut for Lawson, the other seat he was in the running for was at Williams. American driver Logan Sargeant has struggled in his first season in Formula 1 after moving from Formula 2 last year.

He has suffered five DNFs and a few accidents that have cost the team money. He remains the only pointless driver with six grand prix left and hasn’t backed up lead driver Alex Albon well enough.

Lawson’s good form coincided with a bad run of races for Sargeant and immediately the New Zealand driver was being pushed forward to replace the American.

If Lawson were to join Williams, he would reunite with Albon whom he competed against in DTM (German Touring Cars) under the Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse team in 2021.

However, a move to Williams was crushed when team principal James Vowles publicly backed Sargeant after he crashed out in qualifying at Suzuka and retired from the race with damage after colliding with Valtteri Bottas, according to F1.com.

“We want him to succeed, and we want him in the car next year,” was the message from Vowles, who moved from Mercedes at the start of 2023.

“He is on a journey with us as Williams, we have a young driver program that we will continue to invest in. And only at the point where all of us conclude that we have reached the end of that road will we make any decisions, but we are nowhere near that yet.”

So, for now, Lawson doesn’t have a seat in F1 for 2024, but with his recent performances in the AlphaTauri, there’s a big chance he’ll grab a contract on the big stage.

Lawson and Albon at the Nurburgring:

Sean Parker

Sean Parker is a motorsport journalist and sports content creator at The South African. He has worked for the country's premier motoring publications, and is a Formula 1 contributor to Bet.co.za, the Bet Central podcast, and Vision View Sports radio.