Liam Lawson looks to be on pole position at Red Bull as the most prominent F1 reserve. When asked if Red Bull’s second team, Alpha Tauri, could turn to Ricciardo in Australia in the event that a race driver is unwell, boss Franz Tost said in Jeddah: “Theoretically we could. There are young drivers like (Liam) Lawson, like Dennis Hauger. Lawson is a 21-year-old New Zealander who raced in DTM in 2021 and last year finished third overall in Formula 2. It is a clear sign that Dr Helmut Marko has bigger plans for Lawson in Formula 1. The Japanese series is not yet underway, and so Lawson was on duty as Red Bull reserve in Saudi Arabia. When asked who would have replaced Verstappen, Marko said at Jeddah: “Liam Lawson, our Formula 2 driver and our Super Formula man in Japan, who was here.”.

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