Red Bull Junior Driver Liam Lawson is undecided on whether he will stay in the Super Formula championship beyond next year.
Lawson currently races for Team Mugen in the Japanese open-wheel championship, alongside his role as a reserve driver in the Red Bull Formula 1 team.
With three rounds left he sits just a point off the championship lead, having won three times already including the last race at Fuji.
When asked if he would be happy to continue racing in the championship, Lawson told Speedcafe: “It depends on how the season goes.
“It depends on where I finish in the championship this year.
"To be honest, I think if I were fighting at the front, like we are currently, at the end of the season, I feel like I’ve gotten everything out of it."
The New Zealander was unequivocal about his aims for the future: “My goal is Formula 1.”
Should he win the Super Formula championship, it puts Red Bull in a difficult position having also got Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda driving at AlphaTauri.
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Lawson: Higher level of respect in Super Formula
Lawson compared his time in the Japanese championship to racing in the F1 feeder categories, noting the difference in how drivers reach each other.
“You’re racing a lot older guys, quite often there’s a much higher level of respect between drivers," said Lawson.
“In Formula 2 and Formula 3, we’re all obviously trying to achieve the same goal, and with how difficult it is to land a seat in F1 at the moment, you’re sort of fighting over that one or two seats that will never become available anyway.
“So everybody’s very much against each other [in Europe] whereas in Super Formula, I’m sort of there in a different way than people.
"There’s a [higher] level or respect between the drivers having made it whereas for me, I’m obviously trying to use it as a stepping stone, so I don’t feel in such competition with them if that makes sense.”
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