Now confirmed as a fully fledged driver in a championship-contending car, Liam Lawson acknowledges that it’s his job to work with reigning world champion Max Verstappen, not against him.
Following Red Bull parting ways with Sergio Perez earlier this week, Lawson has been confirmed as the fulltime occupant of the team’s second seat from 2025.
However, the 22-year-old’s place comes at a vital time for Red Bull, having not only surrendered their constructors championship title to McLaren but also slipping to third behind Ferrari.
That comes despite Red Bull accruing the most Grand Prix wins in 2024, the most pole positions, and the most sprint wins as well. However, all up, Red Bull finished 77 points adrift of McLaren.
Those struggles can be put down to Perez, who himself finished the 2024 season a huge 285 points back from Verstappen, finishing eighth as his teammate won a fourth successive title.
Former Jordan and Jaguar technical director Gary Anderson described partnering Verstappen as being “the hardest job in F1″.
Perez isn’t the first driver to struggle when seated in the car across the garage from Verstappen’s either. Pierre Gasly was demoted from Red Bull after just 12 races next to the Dutchman, while his successor Alex Albon made way for Perez after the 2020 season.
Lawson and Verstappen already share a healthy relationship off track, given the Kiwi’s place as Red Bull’s reserve driver across its two teams from 2022 until he succeeded Daniel Ricciardo at Racing Bulls earlier this year.
In 2021, at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Lawson let Verstappen borrow a pair of his racing boots, after his senior stablemate’s pair failed to arrive in the country on time.
But now that Lawson is the man next to Verstappen, the Kiwi is realistic about the job Red Bull need him to do if they’re to reclaim the coveted constructors championship.
“I’m definitely not working against him,” Lawson said. “The biggest opportunity for me is the fact that he’s won the last four championships, he’s the best in the world right now.
“He’s been in this team for a long time, maybe close to 10 years. He knows everything about the car, he knows everything about the team. He’ll always be pushing to the absolute limit.
“For me to be alongside that, I get the most learning I could get out of it. It’s an opportunity to become a better driver, work with the best team in Formula One, and have an opportunity to fight at the front.”
While Verstappen winning the drivers title is great for Red Bull as a motorsport brand, winning the constructors is always at the forefront of the team’s objective, given how all 10 sides on the grid make their money.
That, considering his record of aiding in Red Bull’s car development, is arguably among the qualities that saw Lawson promoted ahead of Racing Bulls teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Since returning to Formula One for six races with sister team Racing Bulls earlier this year, Lawson has been frank about the prospect of driving against Verstappen.
The Pukekohe-native has made no secret that he’s not intimidated by his title-winning teammate, but sees the challenge as part and parcel of being a sportsman.
Having worked his way through Red Bull’s junior programme, pressure has always followed Lawson.
Every contract he’s had with the team, through Formula Three, Formula Two and Japanese Super Formula before Formula One, has been performance-based, meaning the wrong results could result in early termination.
And with that on board, the challenge against Verstappen – or any other driver for that matter – isn’t front of mind.
“I just look at it like any other season,” Lawson continued.
“At any point in any professional athlete, whether you’re a boxer, a driver, a tennis player, whatever you are, if you go into a match thinking someone might be better than you, or have the upper hand, or you’re not good enough, you might as well not turn up.
“As racing drivers, we have to have that mindset. I’m lucky that I’ve had it since I was a kid. It’s stuck with me all the way through.
“I’m not expected to go in there and beat him, but I have a level of confidence in my ability. It’s what’s gotten me to this point.
“It’s more exciting for the opportunity. I’m excited to be in this position to have an opportunity to work with the best team in Formula One, against the best guy, to learn from all of that and become the best driver I can become.”
Despite having competed in both the 2023 and 2024 Formula One seasons, 2025 will be Lawson’s first full campaign.
As a result, he’ll need to come to grips with racing on tracks that he’s never driven on before. That will start in March with the Melbourne Grand Prix, as one of 24 races on the calendar.
But asked which he’s looking forward to the most, in the absence of a true home race, there is one clear standout.
“Melbourne is a big one,” he continued. “From when I was a kid, there’s a lot of tracks on the calendar I raced on.
“Melbourne is close to home. One day I’d love to get a New Zealand Grand Prix in there.
“But Melbourne is close, to have support there from home and Australia will be very cool.
“Other than that, there’s Monaco, tracks I’ve done before like Austin and Singapore, tracks like that are super exciting.
“It’s a very full calendar with a lot of tracks I’m looking forward to driving on.”
The announcement that he will drive for Red Bull caps a long journey for Lawson.
As one of few drivers on the grid to not come from any significant financial backing, the Kiwi has had to do things the hard way.
In go-karting, Lawson’s parents – dad Jared and mum Kristy – sold their house to give their son the funds needed to even compete. Lawson’s two sisters also gave up promising careers as Irish dancers to let their brother chase his dream.
But after impressing in 2023, Lawson was still made to wait for a chance that might not come.
This year saw a clause in Lawson’s Red Bull contract that would allow him to leave the team, if not given a 2025 seat by a certain date.
And now with everything said and done, Lawson is able to look back with pride on what he’s been able to achieve, given how he got there.
“It’s been a long journey, the last 12 months have definitely been the hardest. Before F1, I never knew what it would be like, but to get the opportunity to drive gave me a complete perspective on what it’s like.
“Then to step back, spectate and wait for the opportunity was really tough. It’s been a tough 12 months, but I always said to myself if I got to the end of the year and didn’t get a seat, and looked back and saw a bunch of different things I could have done, I’d never forgive myself.
“Sitting here now, everything is definitely worth it.”
Alex Powell is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.
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