Red Bull Racing reserve driver takes 'Gasly route' to Japan

The 20-year-old Lawson is considered a major talent within the Red Bull driver training programme, but in Formula 2 Lawson faced a lot of bad luck. In his first season, he finished ninth in the championship, and in 2022 he finished third. The New Zealander won four races, but it was not enough to convince the Red Bull management.

Opportunity for Red Bull talent

Lawson did command a spot as Red Bull Racing's reserve driver, but the vacant spot at AlphaTauri passed him by. Nyck de Vries was favoured by Helmut Marko and so Lawson has to prove himself in another way and, to do so, diverts to Japan.

Indeed, Lawson has announced at the Honda 2023 Motorsports Program announced as Team Mugen's driver in 2023. Mugen became the class champion in 2022 and also provided the champion driver with Tomoki Nojiro. Nojiro will also step into Mugen's car in 2023, with Lawson as his teammate.

Lawson has a good example of how F1 can still be made it, as Gasly also went this route. The Frenchman had yet to convince Red Bull's top riders even after a GP2 title, but was offered a place at Toro Rosso after a second-place finish in Super Formula.