Liam Lawson of New Zealand ahead of the 2024 F1 Grand Prix of United States at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. Photo: AFP
The pressure is on New Zealand driver Liam Lawson to perform immediately on his return to Formula One.
The 22 year old will lineup for the RB racing team at this weekend's US Grand Prix in Texas.
Lawson replaced Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the team in September.
He filled in for an injured Daniel Ricciardo for five races last year, picking up two championship points with his ninth place finish at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Speaking to the F1 Nation podcast Lawson said Red Bull told him that he needs to be competing with his RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
"They're expecting me to perform at least as well as Yuki, to match him and basically they want points," Lawson said
"Obviously the team is fighting for sixth in the constructors (championship) so to basically score points is the goal."
Lawson has a seat for the last six races of the season, but nothing is guaranteed for 2025.
World champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are contracted with Red Bull for next year although there has been speculation that Perez could retire at the end of the season.
Tsunoda is contracted at sister team RB for the 2025 season.
Liam Lawson of New Zealand and RB staff walk the track ahead of the 2024 F1 Grand Prix of United States at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. Photo: AFP
Lawson has been the reserve driver for Red Bull this year and admits it was tough when Ricciardo was dismissed, but said he got to talk to him in Singapore last month.
"Luckily he's a great guy, he knew it was nothing to do with me," he told F1.
"He was always good to me, he was always open to giving advice when I was driving. He was good to me throughout the year, in any way he could be."
Lawson will race the last six grand prix of the season, US, Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas and Qatar.
While every driver wants to win, Lawson also has keep an eye on his team-mate Tsunoda, who is 12th in the drivers championship with 22 points.
"(The target set by Red Bull of needing to beat Tsunoda is) pretty much what I expected, they don't want to see me going in there and seeing me outperformed for the rest of the year - but it's always been like that," added Lawson.
"With Yuki, we've been compared since we were 17 or 18 years old. He's had a really good start to the season, and he's been performing better this year than any other year but also the team has changed up a lot this year and is heading in a really great direction so it's exciting to be part of that as well."
It will be a tough return for Lawson, who will have just one day of full practice at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.
On race day he will cop a ten place grid penalty inherited from Ricciardo for an excessive number of changes to the power unit this year.
At the top of the drivers championship Max Verstappen has a 52 point lead over McLaren's Landon Norris.