Liam Lawson revealed he has been set a target of beating Yuki Tsunoda to be in contention for a Red Bull seat in 2025 ahead of his return to the track this weekend. 

Lawson will partner up with Tsunoda for RB at the United States Grand Prix in Austin after replacing Daniel Ricciardo for the final six races of the season. 

The New Zealander returns to the grid for the first time in a year after deputising for Ricciardo for five races last season, scoring points at the Singapore Grand Prix on just his third start.

Lawson has the chance to impress again this time around, with a potential view of joining Max Verstappen at Red Bull next year. 

It is no secret that Sergio Perez is under pressure. Since the beginning of 2023, the six-time race winner has scored almost 500 fewer points than Verstappen.

The Mexican has also failed to reach the podium in his last 13 races, with his best finish coming at the Miami Grand Prix where he finished fourth. 

And Lawson has said that beating Tsunoda is the target Red Bull have set, with the 22-year-old aiming to give Christian Horner a headache ahead of next season. 

“[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,” Lawson said.

“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.”

“The conversations have always been in the direction of becoming a Red Bull driver in the future and that’s what I’ve said to them – that’s what I want to become, that’s why I joined the team and want to stay with them and join them in F1. 

“That’s my goal and their goal, I think, is to have drivers to replace current drivers in the future at some point.

"That’s the goal. When that could happen, I have no absolutely idea. But I know it’ll be based on how I perform in the car.”

Tsunoda currently sits 12th in the drivers' championship, claiming 22 points so far this season, with his last top 10 finish coming in Hungary back in July. 

Lawson will only have one practice to get up to speed this weekend in Austin, which is one of three sprint weekends in the final six races of the season. 

Though he has had time to prepare for this moment, saying he knew during the Singapore Grand Prix he would be replacing eight-time race winner Ricciardo this weekend. 

Lawson explained the difficulty of that particular race, but said a conversation with the Australian has stuck with him ahead of his return to the track.

“Luckily, he’s a great guy,” Lawson said. “He knew it was nothing to do with me. And that’s probably the thing with Daniel for the whole time we’ve been in this situation.

“Even for the last 12 months, it’s never felt like we were in direct competition as much as we all are in the sport in some way.

“With Daniel, it never really felt like that, 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.

“So, it never felt like we were in direct competition for a seat. We were also at very different point in our career, so that’s something that probably helped that.

“I went and saw him and said obviously sorry about this whole situation as it’s not nice, and sorry you had to go through it.

"But he said there’s obviously nothing against me, and he said ‘you get one shot at F1, make sure you take it’ – and he said ‘good luck’.”

Second practice for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix proved to be a damp squib as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri set the fastest time on a weather-affected session.

Local favourite Yuki Tsunoda and his RB team-mate Daniel Ricciardo were the only drivers to set lap times early on in changeable conditions, but set their times on the intermediate tyre.

The hour-long session began in rain and, although it later stopped, the track was not deemed sufficiently dry enough for most teams to send out their cars.

Piastri was one of them and his time of one minute 34.725 seconds proved fast enough to top the timesheets, with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari the only others to set representative times.

Earlier, Max Verstappen set the pace in first practice as Willams endured another Friday to forget.

Reigning champion Verstappen retired in Melbourne a fortnight ago but was back at it here, his time of one minute 20.056 seconds was enough to see him go quickest at Suzuka, with team-mate Sergio Perez his closest challenger 0.181 seconds back.

A red flag halfway through the session stopped running for 11 minutes as Logan Sargeant crashed off at turn two – further adding to the Williams woes.

Sargeant sat out the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago as team-mate Alex Albon took his car after destroying his own in a practice crash and the team currently have no spare chassis.

Williams team principal James Vowles confirmed the car had suffered “extensive” damage and Sargeant was forced to sit out of second practice – although the lack of running meant there was little that would have been gained from taking part.

“It is pretty significant (damage). So the chassis is OK, fortunately, but I would say pretty much everything else isn’t – so the suspension around, the gearbox is cracked, big damage.

“At the top of the brow of the hill there, he struggled to see where his positioning was on track. So it fundamentally looks like he didn’t quite realise where he was with where the grass was on the outside and put a wheel on the grass.”

Albon went 12th fastest after the action restarted, while Verstappen assumed his usual position as the car to beat.

Carlos Sainz, who won in Australia last time out, was third-fastest for Ferrari ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Hamilton, while the second Ferrari of Leclerc was sixth.

Max Verstappen set the pace in first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix as Willams endured another Friday session to forget.

Reigning champion Verstappen retired in Melbourne a fortnight ago but still leads the way in the drivers’ standings and the Red Bull driver was once again topping the timesheets.

Verstappen’s time of one minute 20.056 seconds was enough to see him go quickest at Suzuka, with team-mate Sergio Perez his closest challenger 0.181 seconds back.

A red flag half way through the session stopped running for 11 minutes as Logan Sargeant crashed off at turn two – further adding to the Williams woes.

Sargeant sat out the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago as team-mate Alex Albon took his car after destroying his own in a practice crash and the team currently have no spare chassis.

Albon went 12th fastest after the action restarted, while Verstappen assumed his usual position as the car to beat.

Carlos Sainz, who won in Australia last time out, was third-fastest for Ferrari ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, while the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was sixth.

Local favourite Yuki Tsunoda was ninth for RB behind both the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri – whose team-mate Lando Norris rounded out the top 10.

AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda will remain with the team for another season after penning an extension through the 2023 Formula One campaign.

The Japanese driver, who joined the Italian outfit at the start of 2021, has spent two years alongside team-mate Pierre Gasly, earning 32 points last term and 43 to date.

He also posted his best race result with fourth place at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, though he has struggled for form this year, with no top-10 finish since the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

Amid suggestions Colton Herta could have made the move to the team for next year however, AlphaTauri have shown faith in the 22-year-old with a fresh deal.

"I want to say a huge thank you to Red Bull, Honda and Scuderia AlphaTauri for continuing to give me the opportunity to drive in F1," Tsunoda stated

"Having moved to Italy last year, to be closer to the factory, I really feel part of the team and am glad that I get to carry on racing with them in 2023.

"Of course, our 2022 season isn't over yet and we're still pushing hard in the midfield battle, so I’m fully focused on finishing it on a high and then we will look forward to next year."

Tsunoda's renewal locks out AlphaTauri's lineup for next year, with Gasly also retained, as F1 prepares for a record 24-race calendar next season.

Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz are among five drivers set to receive grid penalties for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, joining Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes confirmed on Thursday that Hamilton would be subject to penalties after taking a fourth power unit of the season, the seven-time world champion to start from the back of the grid having taken a new engine component everywhere barring control electronics and energy store.

Red Bull duo Verstappen and Perez will face penalties for exceeding their allocations of internal combustion engines, Verstappen now on his fifth, landing a five-place penalty, and Perez on his fourth, resulting in a 10-place penalty.

Ferrari's Sainz will receive an 20-place penalty after taking new gearbox components and an energy store, while AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda will add to his penalties with an array of new power unit components, having already been given a 10-place penalty for accumulating five reprimands over the course of the season.

Finally, Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas will join former team-mate Hamilton and Tsunoda at the back of the grid after taking new engine components.

Ahead of Friday's practice session, a minute's silence was held following the passing of the Queen on Thursday and all 10 teams posted messages on their social media channels after the news was announced.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes Yuki Tsunoda's mid-race stoppage at the Dutch Grand Prix may have cost Lewis Hamilton a shot at victory over Max Verstappen.

The Briton looked on course for a first win of a difficult season, having seldom been near the pace of his Red Bull rival following last year's enthralling title battle.

But a virtual safety car stoppage for Alpha Tauri's Tsunoda two-thirds into the race handed Verstappen a free pit stop, before a physical safety car later on allowed the world champion to make another change and overtake Hamilton.

Tsunoda stopped his car after reporting issues with his tyres, removing his safety belts before being ordered to drive back to the pits. His belts were checked and he drove for four more corners, before being told to stop again by his team.

Hamilton was ultimately forced to settle for fourth, behind Verstappen, team-mate George Russell and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Red Bull principal Christian Horner suggested the stoppage of Tsunoda had no effect on the outcome of the race, but Wolff felt the decision to send the Alpha Tauri – Red Bull's sibling team – back out likely cost Hamilton.

"If we were to fight for a championship, that would be something I would closely look at," he stated when asked if the FIA should review the incident.

"Now, I think what needs to be investigated for the safety of drivers and everybody out there.

"The driver stopped, unbuckled, did a full lap, came in, the problem wasn't solved, they put the seatbelts back on and he drove out and stopped the car again.

"That probably has changed the outcome of the race that we maybe could have won.

"I think we would have had a fair shot at the win. The race planner said the win was on. It was very close, but it was on."