Christian Horner has indicated that Liam Lawson may still have to wait for his chance in Formula 1 despite impressing with Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri in the three races he’s had for the team.
Lawson was parachuted into AlphaTauri after Daniel Ricciardo injured his hand at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort and went on to finish 13th. The Kiwi then bagged an 11th place at the Italian GP, before getting ninth and a points finish in Singapore.
“He’s done outstanding job, [he was] dropped in in the rain in Zandvoort,” Horner told the press.
“That was a bit of an eye opener for him, but I thought he did well there and then a week later in Monza, he was unlucky to miss out on a point. And then seeing Singapore for the first time and scoring a couple of points.
“He’s a gritty racer. We knew that. About him and I think he’s grabbed this opportunity in Formula 1 that very seldom drivers get a chance to demonstrate their talent.
“I think he’s done a tremendous job and certainly has put himself firmly on the radar and cemented the feeling that we had about him.
“We’ve got a luxury problem where we’ve got three and three into two in that team obviously is an AlphaTauri issue but there’s three great drivers and it’s a nice headache to have.
“He will be a Grand Prix driver, he already is a Grand Prix driver. At some stage, whether he has to wait a little for that or not, I think he’s demonstrating that he is a talent for the future.”
When will Daniel Ricciardo return to AlphaTauri?
AlphaTauri’s head of trackside engineering Jonathan Eddolls admitted that there is no rush to get Ricciardo back driving with the team.
“He’s still still going through that recovery phase,” Eddolls told the press. “I’d say it’s still we’re still talking a while away. So we wouldn’t want to put a target on it.
“The recovery is going well. We’ve got some simulator work planned before a return and I think from our side and his side, there’s there’s no rush to get him back to early.
“The worst thing would be to come back before it’s properly healed.”
