Lawson: 'Extremely frustrating' Red Bull-AlphaTauri snub 'makes sense'

Liam Lawson has conceded the "extremely frustrating" decision byRed Bull and AlphaTauri to overlook him for a place on the F1 gridnext season "makes sense". The New Zealander turned heads during asubstitute stint for the Faenza-based outfit between the DutchGrand Prix and Qatar Grand Prix as Daniel Ricciardo recovered froma broken metacarpal in his left hand following a practice crash atZandvoort. Despite securing points at the Singapore Grand Prix andproving on numerous occasions he could match Yuki Tsunoda, Lawsonwill revert to his reserve role for next term, with a view tomaking the step up in 2025. It is the third time he has beenoverlooked by Red Bull, who opted to put Nyck de Vries in the caralongside Tsunoda this term, only to swap him for Ricciardo at theHungarian Grand Prix following a lacklustre start to the year.Suggested to him that there were reasons for his non-selection,Lawson told the Beyond the Grid podcast: "That's what haspotentially helped in each scenario: yes, it is extremelyfrustrating but I have been able to sit there and go 'I canunderstand at the time of this decision that this makes sense', "IfI go back to de Vries last year, we were having a shocking F2season at that point - we turned it around at the end but it wasall too late. "That's frustrating but at the time the decision wasmade, I could sit there and understand why because of how my seasonwas. "This year as well, although I am having a much better season,you have the option midseason - in a team that's struggling quite abit, at least with the car - somebody who has never been in F1 orsomebody who is very experienced in F1 and has won races. "Soagain, it is frustrating to take but I can sit there and go 'I canmake sense of this decision'. "I would say it is frustrating not tobe driving next year but I will continue to make the most of stillbeing involved in F1." Tough to step back The decision means thatLawson will likely run a race-less schedule next season an instead,focus solely on his reserve work for Red Bull. "I always want to bedriving and before F1, it had been my whole life working towardsit," explained Lawson. "You always expect what it will feel likebut you never really know what it's like in F1 until you actuallydrive, so you are always anticipating. "Now that I have had thechance to be in it, it is definitely a different feeling steppingback. Now I know what it is like, I don't have to imagine anymore.To actually experience it has been amazing and amazing for mycareer but it is a little bit tough to step back."