Another candidate for Red Bull seat? 'He's already at the factory'

With half a season under his belt, Sergio Perez's performance has not been enough to secure an extension to his Red Bull Racing contract. Some experts have even asked for his replacement. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has weighed in with a possible candidate who has been in Red Bull's sights for some time, DTM racer Liam Lawson.

"Liam is a down to earth guy. He works very hard and is honest. If he makes a mistake, he immediately acknowledges it," Marko began to radio station Newstalk ZB, when asked for his opinion on the young DTM driver.

Marko continued: "He does a lot of work in the simulator at the factory. For the next two weeks he will work at the factory in Milton Keynes, so we can see how he would do in F1 before he's actually in it." Lawson is currently Alexander Albon's teammate at Red Bull's DTM team.

"He works well with the engineers. If he sees a weakness, he works on it and you don't see it again. He analyses very well, but that had nothing to do with his performance. He can handle [the pressure] and he's also very, very ambitious," the Austrian said.

A final decision will not be made until December, and also depends on another important factor. Marko explained: "We will evaluate after the end of September. The other question is though, whether there is a seat available."