The United States Grand Prix will mark Lawson’s first race of this season, after being selected as Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement following the Singapore GP.

While Lawson has been officially confirmed for the RB seat for only the final six rounds of the season, all signs suggest that the team may extend his contract through 2025—unless Red Bull decides to promote him directly to their main team.

The New Zealander has already filled in for Ricciardo last year for 5 races when the Australian suffered a wrist injury at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Throughout those races, he showed strong performance, scoring points in Singapore and proving to be competitive against Yuki Tsunoda, which then led Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, to promise him a comeback in 2024.

“The idea of me jumping in is something that Christian [Horner] told me a year ago,” Lawson said on the F1 Nation Podcast.

“When I stepped out of the car, that was one of the things he said to me that, he said ‘I give you my word I’ll basically have you in a race at some point next year’.

“So I always knew that was the intention and it had been talked about.”

Lawson also recognized the unfortunate reality of having to hope for someone else to underperform in order to get the opportunity to take their place.

“As you know Formula 1 is a rollercoaster and every weekend things change,” he explained.

“So one minute it looks really good and then it doesn’t look good and it’s all depending on how the guys are actually going.

“It’s a bit horrible to be honest because you’re sitting there wondering what your chances are of driving and it completely depends on how the guys that are currently driving are doing.

“And you don’t obviously want somebody’s downfall to be your way in but for me to drive somebody has to leave, obviously.”

However, even with what was effectively a commitment from Horner, Lawson highlighted that it didn’t necessarily mean Ricciardo would be leaving for him or that the seat would certainly be at RB.

"There was no clear route of who [or] where that was going to be, though," he added.

"So it wasn't like: 'in 12 months time you're going to switch with this person'. It was: 'in 12 months time we're going to have you a seat, but we just don't know where yet'."

Lawson will receive a grid penalty for his return weekend at the Circuit of The Americas, as confirmed by Horner, because he will be using the same power unit parts that Ricciardo has used so far this season.