Kiwi Liam Lawson has revealed the disappointment of missing out on a Formula One seat for 2024, despite impressing from the second he stepped into the AlphaTauri cockpit.
Lawson, 21, was by far the most surprising storyline of the 2023 F1 season, in a year that saw Red Bull's Max Verstappen dominate for a record 19 wins from 22 races.
In August, a practice crash by Daniel Ricciardo at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort saw the rookie rushed into the AlphaTauri car, where he impressed with a 13th-placed finish on debut.
While Lawson earned no points from his first drive, the achievement was all the more remarkable for the fact he'd never driven in Formula One before, beating his teammate and three proven race winners.
Despite being touted as a contender to fill the seat that was publicly vacant in 2024, behind the scenes deals saw him overlooked before he'd even driven, as Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda were retained by Red Bull decisionmakers.
That left Lawson without a Formula One drive for the second year in a row, after also missing out to Nyck de Vries in 2022.
To make matters worse, he heard the news during the Singapore Grand Prix and had to continue driving, knowing his fate was already sealed.
As arguably the brightest rising star in motorsport, Lawson had the right people around him.
"The support was amazing," he told Newshub. "It was a frustrating time, for sure.
"I was still driving, it was in the middle of the race weekend. I found out before it was all announced and that made it even more tough.
"Throughout the Singapore weekend, having such a strong weekend and having all these questions about next year, but knowing I wasn't driving... to hide that side of it was pretty tough, but I did see a lot of amazing support, which was pretty cool."
Losing out in that way has only lit a fire in Lawson's belly.
Lawson immediately responded by knocking Verstappen out of Singapore qualifying and drove home for a ninth-placed finish.
Up until the final race of the Formula One season, where Tsunoda crossed the line eighth at Abu Dhabi, Lawson's ninth at the Marina Bay Circuit was AlphaTauri's best result of the season.
That success ultimately did little to make up for the fact he must continue to wait to fulfill his childhood dream of a fulltime drive.
"Honestly, it just made it all worse," he continued. "It made it all more frustrating, it made it harder.
"Coming from a session like that and getting asked in the media, 'This is so good for your chances for driving next year'... I know I'm not driving next year, but I can't tell them that, so I had to almost lie about it, which was pretty tough.
"When you get news like that, you almost want to have a bad session. Having it happen like that just made it all the more real."
Regardless, Lawson's plight only endeared him even more to his hundreds of thousands of fans. Since his debut, his social media following has skyrocketed, while his official website crashed more than once, due to the sharp increase in traffic.
Dealing with that spotlight being on him was something he couldn't have prepared for.
"It's probably the thing, stepping into Formula One, that you don't expect.
"You think going into Formula One, all you're focussed on is having to drive the car as fast as you can, having to deal with a big team, how long the races are and things like that, but the attention you get is something that you don't really think about."
Despite the disappointment, 2023 was by far the best year of Lawson's career.
As well as his F1 efforts, Lawson also finished second in Japan's Super Formula series in his maiden season, which proved the perfect way to stay ready, if he was needed elsewhere.
Red Bull have been vocal in their admiration for the young Kiwi, with team principal Christian Horner and head of development Dr Helmut Marko both adamant his time will come.
Next year, he'll stay on as Red Bull's reserve, also covering AlphaTauri.
Given Red Bull's ruthlessness in firing drivers, Lawson could easily return to the AlphaTauri car midway through next season.
Asked to grade 2023 out of 10, he makes no bones of the fact he can still improve.
"I'd give it a high score," said Lawson. "Nothing's ever perfect, I'll never give it a 10/10.
"Losing Super Formula in the last race, that definitely was pretty frustrating, so a 7.5 to 8."
