Liam Lawson has admitted he has “no idea” about his Red Bull future as he prepares for the final race of his current contract.

The New Zealander joined VCARB in October but was given a six-race deal and has yet to receive word as to whether that will be extended.

Liam Lawson still kept in the dark about F1 future

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Having waited on the sidelines, Lawson was finally given a full-time F1 seat when he replaced Daniel Ricciardo but rather than being given long-term assurances that he would be with the team, the 22-year-old was handed an audition period from Austin until the end of the season.

He has performed well in that time, scoring four points, but has still received no confirmation from the likes of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko as to whether he will be in the team next season.

“Honestly, no, I think every race weekend you do in Formula 1 is an evaluation session,” he told media including PlanetF1.com when asked if he felt added pressure on the eve of the season finale.

“We’re always obviously being looked at. Obviously in my situation, I don’t have a seat locked in next year, but it’s been like that for the last few races and obviously every race is important.

“So I think people in F1 have a very short memory. Obviously the last race is really what people are looking at and we had a tough one in Qatar. So obviously we’re focused on having a stronger race this weekend.”

Asked if he had been given any reassurances about his future, Lawson said he had “no idea” but hoped to have a clearer picture after the weekend.

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“Truthfully, I have absolutely no idea,” Lawson said. “I hope to know soon personally but I trust the team to do the right thing and I’m sure they won’t leave it too long.

“After the weekend, I’ll more, more or less have a clearer picture of what I’ll be doing next year.”

However, Lawson did admit it would be “frustrating” if he still did not know this time next week.

“Honestly maybe next week, it’ll be more frustrating if I don’t know. But right now, because we’re still racing, because we’re at the end of another triple header, it’s been so busy that I haven’t really had time to think about my frustration about whether I’m in a seat or not,” he said.

“I’ve got so much other stuff going on with these races that that’s really where my head’s at.”

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