Christian Horner admits that Liam Lawson could replace Sergio Perez next year if he impresses in the next six races at RB.

New Zealand racer Lawson has replaced the axed Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull’s sister team and will partner Yuki Tsunoda for the remaining six races of the 2024 F1 season.

Perez has a contract until the end of 2025 with Red Bull – and promptly quashed retirement talk over the weekend – but Red Bull team principal Horner admits the team has “an eye” on the next generation and Max Verstappen’s teammate down the line.

Perez, 34, finished second in last year’s drivers’ championship but has not won a race since April 2023 and currently trails championship leader Verstappen by 187 points amid a season of disappointment.

“All the drivers are under pressure to deliver but the reason why Daniel [Ricciardo] was in that car was to get himself back into a position to ultimately be there to pick up the pieces if Checo [Perez] didn’t deliver,” Horner told the F1 Nation podcast.

“We need answers for the bigger picture in terms of drivers. It’s the perfect opportunity to line Liam up alongside Yuki, to see how he performs over the remaining six grands prix.

“Obviously we’ve got a contract with Sergio for next year. But you’ve always got to have an eye out in terms of what comes next.

“Is that going to be Liam? Or do we need to look outside the pool? Or will one of the other juniors step up in the fullness of time, whether it’s Isack Hadjar or Arvid Lindblad?”

Horner has also cheekily linked Red Bull with a move for George Russell, who is out of contract at Mercedes at the end of 2025, though Toto Wolff has dismissed that prospect out of hand.

Pressed further on Lawson, Horner divulged that he finds it difficult to read too much into junior driver performances in F2, given the impressive showings of Ollie Bearman and Franco Colapinto in F1 this year.

“I find it so hard to read form in Formula 2 these days because when you look at the job Oliver Bearman has done when he jumped in the Ferrari at one of the toughest tracks on the calendar in Saudi, he looked like a veteran,” Horner added. “Then again against a tough team-mate in Nico Hulkenberg more recently.

“Colapinto has been a complete surprise because he was largely unnoticed in F2, nobody was even talking about him, then he jumped in that Williams, in the couple of races he’s done, he’s been exceptional, really really impressive.

“So it’s difficult to tell, does that mean Isack Hadjar [second in F2 right now] who was beating all of them is another step on? Until we give these guys a chance, we won’t know.”

Lawson will have his first chance to impress at the United States Grand Prix in Austin on October 18-20, when F1 returns following a three-week break.