After seven race weekends, each F1 team will have a good idea of who they want to potentially line up for them next season.
The likes of Ferrari and McLaren don’t need to worry with their driver pairings already confirmed, while others such as Alpine and Visa Cash App RB could potentially bring in two new drivers.
Speaking on the Formula For Success Podcast, former F1 race winner David Coulthard wanted to highlight one young driver he feels deserves to be in the conversation for a drive next year.
Speculation ramped up at Imola, with Valtteri Bottas spotted entering the Williams motorhome and Haas identifying a new driver who could potentially replace Nico Hulkenberg.
Haas also provided Oliver Bearman with his first FP1 outing for the team as he aims to join the grid permanently next season.
However, David Coulthard has implored F1 teams not to forget about Liam Lawson when considering their driver line-ups for 2025.
The young Kiwi is currently sitting on the sidelines for Red Bull and RB in case they need the reserve driver to step up like he did last season in place of Daniel Ricciardo.
READ MORE: Who is Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know
David Coulthard says Liam Lawson is going ‘under the radar’ for 2025 F1 seat
When it was clear at Zandvoort last season that Ricciardo wouldn’t be able to compete in the race after his accident in practice, all of a sudden Liam Lawson was the focus of everyone’s attention.
The 22-year-old was highly rated based on his junior career but hadn’t made the same ascent to Formula 1 as the likes of George Russell or Oscar Piastri.
He finished 3 in his final season in Formula 2 and was runner-up in last season’s Super Formula series in Japan.
The winner of that championship – Ritomo Miyata – has taken the opposite journey to Lawson and is having a middling debut season in F2.
However, Lawson did brilliantly, frequently out-performing more experienced teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
His crowning moment was in Singapore, knocking Max Verstappen out of qualifying and scoring his first F1 points on the same weekend he discovered he wouldn’t have a seat for this season.
Coulthard has now suggested that teams should be looking at Lawson when they consider their 2025 line-up.
The Kiwi is RB’s ‘number one’ choice to replace one of their current drivers, but if he’s not offered a promotion, he might be free to discuss terms elsewhere in the paddock.
Liam Lawson plays an interesting role in the F1 driver market
Talking about the young drivers on the grid – including Oscar Piastri who drove exceptionally well at Imola – Coulthard said: “Another young driver who I saw at the weekend that we shouldn’t forget is Liam Lawson, the young Kiwi who popped in for five races when Daniel Ricciardo fractured his hand.
“He did a brilliant job and he’s kind of sitting there slightly under the radar isn’t he?”
Lawson has admitted that he has a clause in his contract that means he should have a seat on the grid in 2025 which will encourage Coulthard that he’s finally going to get his chance.
The issue for the Red Bull group is who are they going to let go to accommodate the 22-year-old.
At the start of the season, Yuki Tsunoda would have been the most likely candidate to move on.
However, he’s comprehensively outclassed the more experienced Australian giving the team a conundrum.
Ricciardo isn’t attracting much interest from elsewhere in the paddock although he may not have a huge amount of motivation to continue bouncing from team to team unless he’s at the front of the grid.
It’s hard to see RB making an imminent decision, but F1 fans will surely be seeing a lot more of Lawson very soon.
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