Liam Lawson performed down the chance his six-race stint at RB may open the door for him to hitch Purple Bull subsequent yr.
The 22-year-old, who made his Components 1 debut final yr on the identical crew when it was referred to as AlphaTauri, has returned instead of Daniel Ricciardo. Sergio Perez’s poor performances at Purple Bull may open the door for Lawson to hitch the highest crew if he performs effectively, however he mentioned he isn’t contemplating that as a risk.
“I feel that’s very far forward, actually,” mentioned Lawson in yesterday’s FIA press convention on the Circuit of the Americas.
“The goal or the objective that’s been set out is identical because it’s at all times been since I used to be 17 and joined the [Red Bull] programme. It’s all performance-based and that’s principally how they’ll be it.”
He in contrast favourably towards Yuki Tsunoda on the crew final yr and mentioned his crew mate shall be his key reference.
“Clearly, Yuki’s finished an excellent job the final couple of years and particularly this yr and he’s the benchmark for them to match me towards,” mentioned Lawson. “He’s the one one in the identical automotive as me so I’ll be immediately in contrast with him.
“I assume the objective or the expectation from them is for me to compete alongside him. So by way of the place that units me out for subsequent yr or sooner or later, I’ve completely no concept. However that’s the goal that’s been set out.”
Lawson mentioned his first goal shall be to make sure the crew holds on to sixth within the constructors’ championship forward of Haas, who’ve closed on them in current races. He hasn’t raced since concluding the Japanese Tremendous Components championship final yr, however had an opportunity to readjust to F1 performances ranges when he did a Pirelli tyre check for Purple Bull final week at Mugello.
“It was helpful for my neck, actually,” he mentioned. “We did simply lengthy runs, principally. It was good to do, as a lot as I might have slightly exit and do some brief runs and push, it was good to do longer runs and principally simply prepare for the longer races in Components 1.”
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