What to do with Liam Lawson?

Three excellent drivers cannot fit into the two available AlphaTauri seats - so who do you get rid of?

A few weeks ago, it looked damn near certain that Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda would drive for Red Bull junior team AlphaTauri in 2024.

Now, many are wondering how Liam Lawson will factor into that equation, given he’s arrived in F1 with a bang.

Lawson has performed admirably in the last three races for AlphaTauri. He is covering for Ricciardo, who broke his hand at the Dutch Grand Prix. It’s not clear when Ricciardo will return.

Lawson is yet to put a foot wrong during his short F1 stint.

At his first race in Zandvoort, he survived what was quite possibly one of the hardest debuts for a rookie given the lack of prep time and the constantly changing weather conditions.

In Italy, Lawson continued to show signs of promise. He qualified just over a tenth behind teammate Tsunoda and drove to 11th in the race, despite having a less-than-ideal strategy.

This past weekend in Singapore, Lawson was racing at a track that he’d never driven before, yet his cool and calm demeanour continued.

On Saturday, he sensationally made it into Q3 with a lap which knocked out reigning champion Max Verstappen.

Afterwards, George Russell praised Lawson for “doing a really great job”, while polesitter and eventual race winner Carlos Sainz remarked: “Q3 in Singapore is not easy, especially jumping in the car halfway through [a] season.”

In the Grand Prix, Lawson pulled off a clean and consistent drive, finishing a miraculous 9th and thus recording AlphaTauri’s best finish of 2023.

A crucial part of achieving that result was staying out of trouble throughout the 62 laps, though Lawson also had some luck from the racing gods.

On the last lap, he gained a place due to George Russell’s crash, while the misfortunes that struck Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon helped him greatly too.

Lawson's Singapore efforts earned him runner-up for F1’s Driver of the Day award, while many fans and pundits took to social media to praise him.

F1 podcaster Matt Gallagher wrote on Twitter: “Give this man a full-time race seat immediately”, a sentiment which was echoed by former F1 driver Karun Chandhok.

With Lawson performing so well at AlphaTauri, the thought of keeping him there permanently must surely have crossed the minds of Red Bull’s top management.

After all, AlphaTauri’s two drivers for the 2024 season are yet to be publicly confirmed.

But, factoring Lawson into 2024 driver decisions gives Red Bull/AlphaTauri a bit of a headache, because promoting him would also mean dropping either Tsunoda or Ricciardo - far from an easy decision.

If Ricciardo misses out, Red Bull loses a proven talent and experienced race-winner. On the other hand, getting rid of Tsunoda would write off the three years of development that’s been poured into him.

And, if AlphaTauri does stick with both Tsunoda and Ricciardo, then they'll be passing up on an in-form Lawson, who’s proved in the last few races that he’s a competent rookie who’s ready for F1.

Simply put, AlphaTauri has three excellent drivers to choose from, but only two available seats.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, a reliable German publication, news on a contract extension for Tsunoda is imminent. The publication reports it is due to be announced at the Japanese Grand Prix, Tsunoda’s home race.

Still, the publication reports that the second seat is still up for debate.

Perhaps to keep hold of both Ricciardo and Lawson, Red Bull could dive into their playbook from 2005?

In that season, young guns Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien shared the second Red Bull seat - though the arrangement was quickly dropped and Klien got the seat full-time.

Or, perhaps the driver who ultimately misses out at AlphaTauri could find a new home with Williams, which is the only other team with a vacant seat for 2024.

The seat is currently held by rookie Logan Sargeant, but his struggles in past races have many wondering whether Williams is prepared to give him another season.