As August is nearing its end, Red Bull is now closer than ever to the deadline on their Liam Lawson decision. The New Zealander’s contract stated that Red Bull needed to give a verdict on his F1 seat by August or he would be a free agent. After getting a third-place finish at the FIA Formula 2 Championship, Lawson became a prime candidate for debuting in F1. However, things never worked out as the Hasting native failed to bag a seat within the Red Bull family as a regular racer (but he became a substitute driver for Daniel Ricciardo). Thus, he stayed on the sidelines as a reserve driver for both Red Bull and its sister team AlphaTauri (now rechristened to Racing Bulls), waiting for a seat to open up in Formula 1.

In 2023, Red Bull had squashed Liam’s F1 hopes when they offered Daniel Ricciardo a chance to continue racing for its sister team. But the Aussie’s performance has not been too impressive as he has only brought in 12 points for his squad. Meanwhile, one of Red Bull’s recruits, Sergio Perez, has also shown disappointing results when compared to his teammate Max Verstappen. So, despite Perez having a multi-year contract with Christian Horner’s army, his seat might be up for grabs if Checo cannot bridge his 156-point gap to Max in the second half of this season.

Now, Red Bull Chief Advisor Helmut Marko has already stated his wishes to give a verdict on Liam Lawson’s future in September. If Lawson lands a seat at VCARB, Daniel Ricciardo will be out of a job. But the Aussie believes things will work out in his favor “if he performs“. He told Formule1, “I still know that performance is my best friend. If I do what I know I can do and what I’m capable of, then I think it puts me in a really good position to stay somewhere in the Red Bull family next year.”

If Daniel’s predictions do work out, he will get the seat at Red Bull while Lawson will take over his VCARB duties from him. But this will leave Sergio Perez out of the mix completely. So, does the Honey Badger think Liam Lawson deserves his F1 chance more than Perez?

Daniel Ricciardo leaves  Sergio Perez out while predicting Lawson’s F1 debut

Just like Liam Lawson, Daniel Ricciardo does not have a contract for 2025 yet. But the 35-year-old believes Red Bull will decide in favor of both of them. Speaking on why he wants Lawson to land his F1 chance, Daniel said, “I saw him [Liam Lawson] in the car last year and I thought he did a great job. I think he deserves a starting spot. In a way, I’m happy for him. If he’s guaranteed a seat next year then I think that’s good because he’s a decent driver.”

Thus, the Honey Badger is in support of Liam Lawson getting started in Formula 1 with a contract from Red Bull. But while mentioning this about his 2023 substitute, Daniel Ricciardo completely avoided talking about Sergio Perez. The rumors floating around F1 town claimed that the Mexican would lose his seat at the end of the ’24 summer break but that never happened as he took the help of his billionaire sponsor Carlos Slim. Slim convinced Red Bull to let Sergio Perez stay on up until the Mexican GP. However, if Checo’s scores do not improve even then, he will get the boot from the Austrian team and Daniel Ricciardo will probably inherit his seat.

While the drama regarding the Red Bull and the VCARB seats grows thicker every day, everything is still based on mere speculation. But the second half of the F1 2024 season is starting soon and it is high time Red Bull clears the air about its recruitment plans–but will those plans include Liam Lawson?