Red Bull has offered a permanent F1 seat to Liam Lawson in 2025 - Reports

According to reports, New Zealander driver Liam Lawson has been guaranteed a permanent seat for the 2025 season by Red Bull.

The Kiwi has impressed everyone in the paddock with his four appearances on the F1 grid this season, starting from Zandvoort to earning points in Singapore and finishing ahead of his much more experienced AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda in his home race in Japan. Lawson stepped in to replace Daniel Ricciardo, who is currently recovering from a hand injury.

However, these performances weren't enough to guarantee him a permanent seat on AlphaTauri for the 2024 season as they decided to go with Tsunoda and Ricciardo. The decision did not really go well with many, as Liam Lawson had done enough to warrant a seat on the team for the next season.

But as per Last Word on Sports, Liam Lawson has been guaranteed an F1 seat for 2025 by Red Bull. It is believed that he agreed to a reserve role in 2024 in exchange for a guaranteed seat after the next season concludes. Whether this is AlphaTauri or Red Bull itself remains to be seen.

Red Bull team boss explains the decision to not choose Liam Lawson for the 2024 season

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stated that they don't want to release Liam Lawson from their driver program, as they have plans for him for the 2025 season.

Speaking with Sky Sports, Horner said:

"I think there’s only one seat available in Formula 1 at the moment and that seems to be the Williams seat, and it’d be unlikely they take a driver for one year. So he’s going to focus on that test and reserve role and as do much running as he can in the background, in the simulator."

"And you know, we’ve seen what he’s capable of. So he’s done the right thing, he’s grabbed that opportunity and I said to him, you’ve done everything and more that you could have."

Lawson hinted that he might look for options in 2025 if he did not get a seat, adding:

“I’m a Red Bull driver, all the Red Bull seats are filled and unfortunately for me, that means for now I’ll be a reserve driver. Once this stint that I have is over then I can start looking at what options there are (for 2025), but right now it’s focused on these races.”

It will be a shame for Red Bull to lose a driver of Liam Lawson's caliber to a competitor on the grid, so it will be interesting to see how they manage him in the future.