On Thursday Liam Lawson will climb into the RB20 to take the monitor at Silverstone. The session is certainly one of Purple Bull’s allotted “filming” days for the 2024 season, and the second such program the staff has applied this 12 months.
However it comes as questions persist about their driver lineup for the second half of the season.
Lawson’s Silverstone shakedown of the RB20 was beforehand scheduled and a part of Lawson’s reserve duties with the staff, and never lately added to Purple Bull’s calendar. However the timing couldn’t be worse from a hypothesis standpoint, because it comes on the heels of a tough tripleheader for Sergio Pérez that has renewed concern that the Purple Bull driver could possibly be dropped from the staff as Purple Bull fends off challenges atop the Formulation 1 grid.
Over the three races of the tripleheader, Pérez banked simply 11 factors and was outscored by Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg who added 16 to his account over the identical stretch. That has led to some voices across the sport questioning if Pérez will nonetheless be within the RB20 following the summer season break. “They’ll’t let it go on without end. If on the subsequent race he doesn’t rating factors once more, quickly sufficient, they should get him out of the automotive and put another person in,” mentioned Jenson Button following the British Grand Prix. “It’s not a pleasant feeling for a driver. It’s powerful. For a driver it’s horrible however for them the constructors’ is vital.”
Purple Bull Crew Principal Christian Horner assured the media final weekend that the assessments had been deliberate for months upfront, and never simply added to the schedule because of Pérez’s type.
“These assessments have been deliberate for a while in order that they’re not one thing which have simply sprung up, they’ve been deliberate for a few months now,” mentioned Horner to Sky Sports activities F1 following the British Grand Prix.
Nonetheless, Horner additionally went on to say that Pérez’s present type is “unsustainable” if Purple Bull goes to mount a profitable title protection.
“[Pérez] is aware of it’s unsustainable to not be scoring factors – we’ve to be scoring factors in that automotive, and he is aware of that,” mentioned Horner after the British Grand Prix. “He is aware of his position and his goal, so no one is extra keen than Checo to seek out his type once more.
“It’s one thing we’re aware of, that to win the Constructors’ Championship you want each automobiles scoring.”
The Purple Bull boss went on to notice that the strain is just growing on Pérez, because of his “underdelivering” within the RB20.
“Checo, in fact, he’s underneath strain – that’s regular in Formulation 1 – however once you’re underdelivering, that strain solely mounts, and he’s conscious of that,” added Horner on Sunday. “He is aware of that.”
Purple Bull thought they had been placing questions on Pérez’s future to mattress with the brand new contract that was introduced forward of the Canadian Grand Prix. However this run of poor type has solely seen these questions renewed, whereas groups equivalent to Ferrari, McLaren, and lately Mercedes have put continued strain on the whole staff on the high of the grid.
And now Lawson is climbing into the RB20.
How handy.
