The last thing Sergio Perez will want to hear about is Liam Lawson taking part in a Red Bull Racing filming day after the British Grand Prix.
Liam Lawson has been lurking in the Red Bull paddock since the beginning of the season, waiting to see if an opportunity is going to arise at any of the four seats potentially available to him.
It’s impossible to see the Kiwi replacing Max Verstappen unless he’s unavailable to race for some reason.
Some may have thought at the beginning of the year that it was Yuki Tsunoda who might be under pressure but he’s been the stronger Visa Cash App RB driver this year.
That meant that Daniel Ricciardo has been looking over his shoulder although he’s expected to hold onto his seat at this stage.
The man who needed to impress at the British Grand Prix was Sergio Perez but unfortunately, he did the complete opposite.
Christian Horner was speaking to Karun Chandhok on Sky Sports F1 about the situation within the team.
Lawson will be the next driver to sit in a Red Bull car and the timing of his filming day couldn’t come at a worse time for Perez.
It doesn’t exactly mirror Ricciardo’s tyre test that saw him convince Horner that he should replace Nyck de Vries last year. However, it’s hard to ignore some obvious similarities.
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Christian Horner responds to Liam Lawson’s Red Bull test amid pressure on Sergio Perez
Talking to the Red Bull team boss after the race, Chandhok said: “A little birdy tells me that Liam Lawson’s doing a filming day in the near future, he’s also got a tyre test coming up with AlphaTauri [Visa Cash App RB], are these auditions?
“I mean, you guys ran Daniel [Ricciardo] last year as an audition and stuck him in a race seat, what’s going on?”
Horner replied: “Well look, those tests have been planned for some time, they’re not something that have just sprung up.
“They’ve been planned for a couple of months now, so Liam [Lawson] is our test and reserve driver, that’s his job but I think Checo [Perez], it’s been a horrible weekend for him.
“We took some risks, we went for a set of inters with the first bit of rain expecting a bit more to come.
“I think Ferrari did the same with Charles [Leclerc], the rain took another ten minutes to get there and it was one of those calls where you can either win a lot or lose a lot and unfortunately Checo lost a lot at that point.
“But, the pace just wasn’t quite there today.”
READ MORE: Who is Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know
Liam Lawson finally has chance to shine with potential Red Bull seat on the cards
After 12 race weekends, Liam Lawson is now set to get his chance to show Red Bull what they might be missing this season.
Although Horner insists that the filming day has been in place for some time, the timing couldn’t be better for the 22-year-old.
There was been talk that Lawson might be the man put into the second Red Bull if Perez is let go.
It would be a surprise if Red Bull overlooked Ricciardo – who is highly trusted by Horner – and Tsunoda – who has been the more impressive RB driver this year – to go with Lawson instead.
However, it would create some continuity at RB and give Horner and Helmut Marko a dozen race weekends – should Lawson be promoted before the next race – to decide the make-up of their teams for 2025.
It would also potentially give Carlos Sainz even more reason to delay his decision for next year.
The post ‘His job’: Christian Horner responds to Liam Lawson Red Bull ‘audition’ after ‘horrible’ Sergio Perez weekend appeared first on F1 Oversteer.