Martin Brundle tells Liam Lawson he’s ‘a brave man’ for battling £4m-a-year driver at the Las Vegas Grand Prix

Visa Cash App RB driver Liam Lawson entered the final triple head of the 2024 Formula 1 season in a unique position.

Nearly every driver currently on the grid knows what they’ll be doing when the F1 circus arrives at the Australian Grand Prix at the beginning of next season.

RB are the only team that have yet to confirm their driver pairing, with Yuki Tsunoda signed up for his fifth campaign for the team, but a vacancy remaining alongside him.

The likes of Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen know that they’ll be moving on after losing their race seats.

Liam Lawson also doesn’t have a contract for 2025, but a pen is waiting for him to sign on the dotted line after the chequered flag flies in Abu Dhabi.

After replacing Daniel Ricciardo following the Singapore Grand Prix, Lawson was given six races to prove he deserved a full-time F1 seat.

The interesting part for Lawson is that the seat could be at RB or Red Bull if Sergio Perez’s performances don’t improve.

Perez is under increasing pressure at Red Bull and securing a single point at the Las Vegas Grand Prix wouldn’t have done him any favours.

However, Lawson still has to perform and his weekend in Sin City didn’t really stand out.

Martin Brundle and David Croft kept a close eye on him during their commentary for Sky Sports F1 and admired his bravery for going wheel-to-wheel with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.

Liam Lawson told he’s ‘a brave man’ after Las Vegas GP battle with Kevin Magnussen

At the beginning of the race, Lawson lined up directly behind Magnussen, following Franco Colapinto’s huge crash that forced him to start from the pit lane.

The pair were running side-by-side at the beginning of the race and examining their battle, Croft said: “Some skirmishes going on a little bit further down the grid, Sergio Perez has already lost a place to Fernando Alonso, who started on those soft compound tyres.

“And there goes the RB of Liam Lawson, going wheel-to-wheel with Kevin Magnussen and Lawson manages to get his RB ahead of that Haas, while George Russell continues to lead out in front.”

READ MORE: Haas driver Kevin Magnussen’s life outside F1 from wife to net worth

Brundle replied: “Yeah, it’s a brave man who starts putting moves on Kevin Magnussen, knowing how feisty he can be, but Liam Lawson was that man!”

Over the team radio, Magnussen wasn’t happy with Lawson and said: “Lawson is moving in a straight line when I’m slipstreaming. You know he was reacting.”

Croft continued: “And the stewards said no further action,” and Brundle replied: “Yeah, I was convinced they weren’t going to get through there side by side.

“It was a bit of frail overtaking there, wasn’t it between those two at turns 12 and 13, they got away with it.”

Liam Lawson needs to contribute to RB’s Constructors’ Championship battle to gain Red Bull’s attention

Ultimately, the £4m-a-year Dane came out on top at the end of the race, finishing four positions ahead of Lawson.

Perez pulled off a spectacular move on Lawson and Magnussen later in the race that secured him a 10th-place finish.

Red Bull’s biggest concern with Perez is his inability to contribute to Red Bull’s Constructors’ Championship campaign.

READ MORE: Who is Visa Cash App RB driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know

Christian Horner’s team are set to finish third this season despite Max Verstappen having a healthy lead at the top of the driver’s standings.

Lawson is involved in a much closer battle of his own with RB.

Nico Hulkenberg overtaking Tsunoda late in the race helped Haas open up a single-point advantage over Alpine, with RB just a further three points behind.

That battle will go down to the wire and could be worth millions of pounds in prize money to which team comes out on top.