Liam Lawson is set to drive Red Bull’s current RB20 at Silverstone this coming Thursday. It is part of their second promotional event following Hamilton’s first F1 win in over 1000 days at the British GP.
Lawson has been sitting in the wings waiting, hoping to take the seat of Daniel Ricciardo at the Red Bull’s Racing Bulls team. The other seat, that of Yuki Tsunoda, is confirmed but the remaining driver is unclear, with Daniel Ricciardo as yet unsigned. Tsunoda sits twelfth on the championship ladder, one ahead of his teammate.
Meantime, eyes are once again on Lawson who filled in for an injured Ricciardo last year. He is confirmed to drive 200km on the promo day, around 34 laps of Silverstone. That’s more than enough to be evaluated as a potential replacement for Perez as early as after the Summer break. Like the cars, things move quickly in F1.
Speaking to Sky F1 at Silverstone, Christian Horner said, “This is a sport where there’s no hiding, particularly with Max Verstappen as your team-mate.” Perez has won 118 points this season, 119 behind his teammate Verstappen who is driving the same car. He is sitting fifth in the championship but qualified for the British GP second last. And while he had a promising start to the season, he has failed to finish better than eighth since resigning.
Perez knows he’s being measured against the very best and Red Bull needs him up there supporting Verstappen because there are two McLarens, two Ferraris, and two Mercedes. Horner said that Red Bull really needs two Red Bulls to be regularly in contention.
