Liam Lawson drove the Red Bull 2024 Formula 1 at Silverstone on Thursday’s filming day in a test that took place as pressure mounted for an underperforming Sergio Perez.
New Zealander Lawson, 22, is a reserve driver for both Red Bull F1 teams and is hoping for a full-time seat at home. He impressed in a five-race cameo for RB, then known as AlphaTauri, last year as a stand-in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo, scoring points in his third race appearance in Singapore.
On Thursday, Lawson will run in the current champion’s R20 as Red Bull completes the second of the two days of filming allowed this year for promotional purposes when track running is restricted and strictly regulated by F1 regulations.
As part of the 2024 reserve programme, Lawson is also scheduled to test the 2022 AlphaTauri car at Imola this month.
“The test has been planned for some time, so it’s not something that just popped up, it’s been planned for months now,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to Sky Sports F1 after the British GP last Sunday.
“Liam is the test driver and reserve, that’s his job.
“But Checo, it’s been a terrible weekend for him.”
What is the significance of the Lawson test and what is ‘filming day’?
Separately, as Horner suggested, the upcoming race on Red Bull Racing and RB machines is just the latest part of Lawson’s planned reserve role this year and an opportunity for him to get back behind the wheel on the track for a year. youngsters do not have a race program.
However, with the season’s opportunities to run in F1 machines now very limited, Thursday’s test at the Red Bull 2024 challenger will surely still be an opportunity for Lawson to show where he is now.
The ‘filming day’ – which is allowed in two F1 outfits per year – is designed for teams to capture content of their cars on track while also being used regularly for ‘shakedown’ purposes ahead of pre-season testing. Red Bull completed their first filming day of the year at Silverstone in February with Perez and Max Verstappen debuting their new RB20.
Each day of filming is limited to 200km of track running – which, on Thursday, will be 33 laps of the full Silverstone GP circuit – and the cars used must be fitted with tires specially designed for the event by Pirelli.
While Lawson’s run certainly does not make or break his Red Bull career and his hopes for a full-time F1 seat on the grid in one of the two teams, from the perspective of the 22-year-old him to do conspicuously well on Thursday. the run-out will then help to show that it is an alternative choice leading to the world championship if needed either later this season or next.
Perez’s position is not thought to be under immediate threat with the Hungarian and Belgian GPs coming up before the end of the month before F1 enters the summer.
But the 34-year-old is under increasing pressure during the August break to quickly find a way out of a slump in form that has seen him score just 11 points in the past five races.
Horner admits Perez’s current form ‘unsustainable’
Perez did not score points at the British GP last week after having a bad weekend at Silverstone.
After spinning in Q1 and qualifying 19th, he started from the pit lane after an engine change and then finished only 17th after an early gamble to switch to the intermediate tire backfired. Verstappen’s team-mate finished a close race with Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
Perez last finished on the podium eight races ago in China while Verstappen has won three times.
“They know they can’t score points,” Horner said after last Sunday’s race.
“We have to score points in that car.
“He knows his role and his goals. No one is more eager than Checo to find his form again.”
Perez’s immediate Red Bull future appeared secure when they announced on June 4 that he had signed a two-year contract extension. But it is thought the deal contains a specific performance clause, which Horner also mentioned when asked about the driver’s struggles in recent weeks.
Asked directly by Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle during the weekend of the British GP if he now wants not to sign Perez for next year quite early, he answered: “This is a very difficult question but, of course, when you sign a driver the content of any agreement. will not be disclosed to you all (media ).
“So it made absolute sense to sign Checo at that time, but it was a business that was under pressure to deliver.”
Despite Perez’s lack of points and the loss of his 2023 championship dominance, Red Bull have continued to extend their overall lead in the Constructors’ Championship over the past four races to a 71-point advantage after Silverstone.
But it has now been given breathing space by second-placed Ferrari, its closest competitor from the early stages of the season, dropping down the pecking order in the new race.
McLaren and Mercedes have each outscored Red Bull over the past five races, with the former just 78 points adrift now 115 behind the past six races. Sunday’s Silverstone race marks the midpoint of the 24-race 2024 season.
Ricciardo’s future is also uncertain
Lawson’s Silverstone outing at Red Bull now comes a year to the day since Ricciardo was given an outing in the team’s newest car in a test at Silverstone after the British GP.
Ricciardo, who himself had been in a back-up role at Red Bull when he returned to the fold after leaving McLaren, drove in the Pirelli tire test, while the running plan was controlled by the F1 tire manufacturer.
In that case, Ricciardo’s performance in the RB19 was impressive enough to prompt Horner and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko to hand the Australian back to F1 at the expense of Nyck de Vries in the AlphaTauri.
However, a year on, Ricciardo’s future is still far from certain.
While team-mate Yuki Tsunoda has been given a contract extension for 2025 at RB, Ricciardo is yet to find out if he too will be retained.
Lawson also remains an alternative at RB, as theoretically Perez is Red Bull to make an emergency change in the senior team before next season.
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