If he keeps doing well, who do you think he’ll replace?
I think the consensus is generally that he would replace Ricciardo because Ricciardo would replace Checo. There’s really no reason Daniel wouldn’t be fast tracked into the Red Bull seat unless he truly has lost his speed and his F1 career comes to an end.
Whatever it is that Red Bull saw during his testing and sim time, they seem to believe that the Daniel Ricciardo of old will make a rapid return. If they don’t see that then they probably still replace Checo, but the replacement conversation becomes more complicated.
It would seem a cruel double standard if they were to give a returning driver who had lost his form chance after chance to show he’s still worthy of the works team when historically they haven’t given their own young drivers that opportunity.
The only seat still available next year is Sargent, but Williams seem committed to him. Probably looking like another year in Super Formula for Lawson.
Or a fractional year, if anyone in the RBR family of drivers isn’t performing and gets replaced mid season
With Tsunoda also committed to AT I don’t think Lawson has much hope of getting a seat for the next year or two.
The only chance he has at getting an AT seat is if Ricciardo or Tsunoda move up to RB. At this point he’s probably got even odds of back-filling Checo’s replacement (if it happens) or moving to a non-RB team like Williams.
