The Milton Keynes-based side endured a weekend to forget at the Marina Bay Circuit, with qualifying having been the lowest of lows for them.

For the first time since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix, the Austrians didn’t have a single car progress into Q3, with Verstappen having qualified 11th with Sergio Perez in 13th.

Incredibly, it was AlphaTauri’s stand-in Liam Lawson who dumped Verstappen out of qualifying, with the Kiwi having finished P10 in Q2.

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Fans quickly joked on social media that Piquet will be interested in the young driver, given that she left Daniil Kvyat at a similar time to Verstappen replacing the Russian at Red Bull.

One fan posted the meme of American TV host Anthony Adams rubbing his hands together.

“Kelly Piquet seeing Lawson out-qualify Verstappen,” @ScrewderiaF1 captioned the meme.

It was normal service for Verstappen on Sunday at least where he finished as the top Red Bull driver, after getting past Lawson very quickly.

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The reigning World Champion recovered to finish fifth, whilst Perez could only recover to eighth.

Behind Perez was Lawson in ninth, who scored points in just his third F1 race.

The Red Bull reserve driver was sensational throughout the weekend and is now likely to give the Austrians a huge headache for 2024.

Having settled into F1 so quickly since replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo, Lawson must be given a seat at AlphaTauri next season.

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Lawson is clearly a real star of the future who could potentially be a real candidate to replace Perez at the end of 2024, although it’ll mean that either Ricciardo or Yuki Tsunoda won’t be given a spot on the grid next season.

There has been rumours that Tsunoda could become Red Bull’s reserve driver in 2024, making way for AlphaTauri to have a driver line-up of Ricciardo and Lawson.

As things stand, this looks like the Faenza-based team’s strongest possible line-up for 2024, although time will tell if comes to fruition.