Liam Lawson has revealed he knew he would be handed a seat with RB for the rest of the F1 season two weeks prior to the official confirmation on Thursday.
It means that Red Bull's hierarchy of team principal Christian Horner, advisor Helmut Marko and RB team boss Laurent Mekies had decided to axe Daniel Ricciardo and bring in Lawson following the Italian GP, and ahead of the Azerbaijan/Singapore double-header.
It is known that Ricciardo was only informed of the decision between the two street races, but had to keep the information under wraps throughout the Singapore weekend until the announcement was made four days after the race.
Asked in an interview with the New Zealand Herald how it felt to be an F1 driver, Lawson owned up to how long he was aware of the situation.
"It now, finally, does sort of feel real," said Lawson. "I knew about it for probably the last two weeks, but until it's out there to the world, it doesn't ever really feel set in stone.
"I couldn't tell anybody, so, no, it's a very cool feeling."
Lawson - No time to let it sink in
As to the process involved behind the decision, the 22-year-old New Zealander added: "It had been the plan for a long time now, where this was where it was leading.
"I had a contract date that needed to be fulfilled, so it was going towards this way, and then a couple of weeks ago, they told me this is what was going to happen. Not long after that, it was set in stone."
Lawson will now compete in the final six grands prix of the season, starting in the United States on October 18-20, whilst there are also three sprint events.
Although F1 is enjoying an 'autumn break' given the extended gap between the rounds in Singapore and Austin, Lawson concedes he has "not really" had time to celebrate, nor will he in the time to come.
"I'm very happy, but there are six rounds left of the season, so I've come in at a difficult time," he said. "It's going to be a very challenging point.
"All these guys have done three-quarters of a season now, so I have to try and compete with them at tracks that I haven't done so it's going to be challenging.
"I've spoken to my parents, and I've spoken to everybody that's been behind me on this journey, and it's very special, but we don't have much time to let it sink in. We need to get straight to work."
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