Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has called Liam Lawson a "contender" for a Formula 1 seat in 2025 after denying he has guaranteed the waiting-in-the-wings Kiwi a spot on the grid.
F1 fans questioned Red Bull and sister team AlphaTauri's decision-making earlier this week after AlphaTauri announced they'd be sticking with Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo for 2024 despite Lawson's impressive performances since stepping up to cover the injured Australian.
In that time, Lawson has driven the last three Grands Prix and has two 11th place finishes to his name as well as a ninth in Singapore — his first F1 points.
Lawson then quashed any thoughts of a switch to another team, leaving some commentators to suggest there may have been an agreement reached that guaranteed the Kiwi a seat at either Red Bull or AlphaTauri the following year.
Horner told Sky Sport that simply isn't true.
"There are no guarantees in life," Horner said.
"He's done a great job, he's really impressed us, he's done exactly what we could have asked for in terms of grabbing the opportunity in Daniel's absence to show his capability.
"That's turned some heads and done him a lot of good and I think we'll keep developing him when he goes back into the test and reserve role.
"He'll be a candidate certainly for 2025."
1News understands Lawson is likely to continue racing for AlphaTauri at the Qatar GP with the hope Ricciardo's wrist is fit to return for Mexico.
Horner appeared to reaffirm that strategy, saying: "His [Ricciardo's] recuperation is going well, he's fixed in the seat for next year so does he need to rush a hasty return for Qatar?
"He's got his sights fixed on Qatar, but he'll drive the simulator next week and then we'll make some decisions based on that."
The Qatar Grand Prix is on October 6, followed by the US Grand Prix in Texas on October 20, the Mexican Grand Prix on October 27, Brazil Grand Prix on November 3, Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 15th and finally the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 24.
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