With DTM and current Red Bull Racing Honda reserve driver, Alex Albon, moving to Williams Racing and a full time Formula One drive for 2022, this now leaves a vacancy for the 2022 season. Likely to replace Albon and take on the role of Red Bull F1 reserve driver, ahead of two other contenders, is Kiwi Liam Lawson.
While nothing has been made official, it is not difficult to work out the likely scenarios. Of all drivers in the Red Bull Junior Drivers Program, three are currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, hoping to make the step up to the main-game.
Lawson currently sits eighth in the FIA Formula 2 standings. Ahead of him are fellow Red Bull Junior drivers Jehan Daruvala (seventh) and Juri Vips (sixth). However, it is not necessarily about who finishes top in F2. Most teams are looking for the complete driver, which encompasses more than just results.
While Lawson may not have the results in F2 this season that he would like, he certainly has turned heads in the way he has gone about his business. In other words, he has that raw speed and shown it on track.
This has also been mirrored in the DTM Championship with plenty of podiums, pole positions and race wins putting Lawson at the top of the points standings with just two more weekends of racing remaining in the 2022 season.
In observing Lawson, one sees the level-headed maturity of someone heading to the top. For example, his DTM race on Sunday at Assen in Holland. He hunted down eventual winner Lucas Auer yet chose to take the points that second place offered, rather than taking a calculated risk that would be required to win the race. Two years ago he would have wanted the win, now he is after the championship.
As for Super Licence points to compete in Formula One, Lawson is currently 14 away from the required 40-points. Winning the DTM Series would give him 20, with 16 for second place. Finishing in the top ten in F2 would also mean anywhere between 3 and 40-points.
Arguably Daruvala hasn’t exactly set the world-alight. He’s never actually won anything, rather he has finished second in the 2016 Toyota Racing Series (to winner Lando Norris), third in the 2019 FIA F3 and eighth last season in FIA F2.
Vips is similar. After winning the 2017 ADAC Formula 4 (just beating Kiwi Marcus Armstrong), Vips has been quick, finishing second at the Macau Grand Prix, but never really threatened to walk away with a championship.
What of the other 2021 FIA F2 competitors, could Red Bull engage someone from outside their current program? In the FIA F2, four other drivers are standouts but are associated or signed with other F1 teams. Oscar Piastri, the current FIA F3 champion, leads the F2 series and is a member of the Alpine Academy. Guanyu Zhou is also a member of the Alpine Academy and the current Alpine F1 reserve driver. He may well take the vacant F1 seat at Alfa Romeo next year. Robert Shwartzman is third overall, a Ferrari Academy driver but has admitted that he is not ready for Formula One. The fourth contender is Theo Pourchaire who is a Sauber Junior driver, also reported to be in contention for the Alfa Romeo seat.
At the end of the day we can only speculate. Those closest to Lawson will know what 2022 holds so let’s not be surprised if we see him both back in the FIA F2 championship and promoted for a F1 reserve driver.
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