Now confirmed as a fully fledged driver in a championship-contending car, Liam Lawson acknowledges that it’s his job to work with Max Verstappen, not against him
Opinion by Alex Powell
Alex Powell is a Sports Journalist for the NZ Herald.
Red Bull are expected to struggle to hit the heights of recent years to start the season.
This is it, then.
After spending most of the last two years stuck on the sidelines, waiting for his chance, Liam Lawson this weekend will truly begin his Formula One career with Red Bull.
From the outside, there’s no shortage of commentary around his place. How can a driver who has just three points finishes be deemed ready to drive for one of the biggest teams in the sport?
His critics will argue that Tsunoda deserved the chance Lawson’s been afforded. However, the Kiwi showed in six races that he was on a par with a driver who’d been there for four years.
Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda at the Qatar Grand Prix in 2023. Photo / Getty Images
Red Bull’s decision-makers, team principal Christian Horner and senior adviser Dr Helmut Marko are not stupid. They have all the data that indicates Lawson is worth investing in, with no great certainty over the team’s future.
The Herald understands that, internally, Red Bull have little clarity over the future of Verstappen.
In 2024, as the Dutchman brought up the milestone of 200 races, he bluntly said he doesn’t see himself getting to the mark of 400 — which at the current rate would take around eight full seasons.
And while he’s committed to the 2025 season, there’s no telling what might happen to Verstappen, should Red Bull not be able to perform at a level he feels is adequate.
That’s why Lawson is so important. Red Bull wants him in the top team now, in order to truly assess whether or not he’s the man to build around for the future.
Further down the pyramid, Isack Hadjar has been promoted into Lawson’s old seat with Racing Bulls, while Arvid Lindblad will drive in Formula Two, and almost certainly step up next year when Tsunoda departs.
Red Bull are putting everything in place to make sure that if Verstappen does leave sooner rather than later, they will have a stable of drivers to choose from — unlike the shootout we saw at the end of 2024.
This weekend’s season opening race in Melbourne, then, becomes key.
By all accounts, Red Bull are not entering this season with the best car on the grid. While Verstappen won the drivers championship in 2024, Red Bull surrendered the constructors crown to McLaren.
For all the brilliance of Verstappen winning nine races, teammate Sergio Perez finished 285 points back in the same machinery, and has been moved on as a result.
Therein lies Lawson’s biggest challenge, at the very least matching the returns of Verstappen on track.
Marko has set the Kiwi the target of being within three-tenths of a second behind his teammate this year. On paper, that’s 0.3s. But while it might appear miniscule, that gap is huge.
Red Bull’s entire set-up revolves solely around Verstappen. Every aspect of their car is designed to get the best out of the world champion. That in and of itself has been responsible for the demise of so many of his teammates.
Since Daniel Ricciardo departed for then-Renault in 2019, Red Bull have cycled through Gasly, Albon and Perez. And while there was team success, most of it can be put down to Verstappen’s dominance, with modest assistance from his partners.
No teammate has been able to match Verstappen, let alone beat him.
At its simplest, Verstappen’s car set-up can be boiled down to one word: aggression.
The design of last year’s car, the RB20, put emphasis on maintaining speed into slow corners. Verstappen is then able to control the back of the car better than anyone, and accelerate through the apex.
Naturally, as seen by Perez’s struggles, this leaves very little room for error. And with every indication that Red Bull won’t diverge from that strategy in 2025, there is naturally a worry as to how any driver that isn’t Verstappen might cope.
This is where Red Bull hope Lawson can stop the rot. The Kiwi is internally viewed as the closest match to Verstappen in terms of his driving style, while his unwavering self-confidence ticks all the right boxes for Horner and Marko.
When asked about his role alongside Verstappen, Lawson rightfully asserted that he backs himself to do what’s asked of him at Red Bull.
Read what you want into the spin, but it proves Lawson is prepared to push the car past its limits to get what he needs. What should be more concerning for Red Bull, is the car’s overall performance across those three days.
While admittedly teams are known to deliberately hold back in pre-season, Red Bull do appear somewhat off the pace.
Ferrari look to have the fastest overall package, as their pair of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc took the second and third best times in Bahrain.
Across the three days, driving on two of them, Lawson’s best time was 1m 30.252s, 11th fastest overall among the 20 drivers. Verstappen’s was 1m 29.566s, good enough for the fifth-best time.
Take those timings with a grain of salt, though. Sainz’s Williams was the quickest across two days, clocking 1m 29.348s.
Meanwhile, as reigning constructors champions, McLaren have almost certainly held back, in order to give no barometer to where they’re at before the season starts.
While Verstappen and Lawson were fifth and 11th fastest, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were eighth and 13th.
Liam Lawson with teammate Max Verstappen in Bahrain in February. Photo / Getty Images
Red Bull themselves have admitted to being disappointed at their results from Bahrain. Whether or not they’ve been genuine in putting their best foot forward, though, remains to be seen.
Testing is a hard mark to gauge any drivers and teams at this point in the year. Teams test a number of different things, from tyres, to fuel loads, and aerodynamic configurations. The most important thing was that Lawson logged 149 laps behind the wheel of the RB21.
What’s more, Lawson is renowned by the two Red Bull-backed teams for his driver feedback. Any issues with the car in Bahrain that carry forward into Melbourne will be quickly addressed, given the excellence of Red Bull’s two drivers in understanding what their cars need.
By his own admission, confidence was the one thing Lawson would need above all else to drive this year’s car with any great success. And given Red Bull won’t be expecting him to win, or even make the podium in Melbourne, the quicker he comes to terms with the 2025 car, the better.
Aiding Lawson in that regard, is his incredible record of performing on debut.
From every category up to Formula One, Lawson has won on debut no fewer than eight times. Including Formula Three, Formula Two, the German DTM series and Japanese Super Formula, the Kiwi has tended to take the chequered flag in his first appearance.
Yes, his time in Formula One has been different, but Lawson has still shown he performs right away.
In his fulltime debut with AlphaTauri at Zandvoort in 2023, Lawson took the worst car on the grid and finished 13th, having started 20th. A year later, in making a return to Formula One in Austin, Lawson took his Racing Bulls from 19th to ninth.
Semantics will dictate as to whether Melbourne 2025 counts as a debut; given that it is his first Grand Prix for Red Bull, albeit his 12th overall.
However, finishing ninth in a Racing Bulls is very different to doing the same with Red Bull. That’s arguably the biggest elephant in the room for Lawson — results.
Red Bull, on some levels, will know they can’t continue chopping and changing drivers season in, season out. If Verstappen is truly on his way out of the sport, Red Bull will need Lawson in the car in 2026, when Formula One’s regulations change to force all teams back to the drawing board in how they design and build cars.
Unless Lawson is consistently putting his RB21 in the wall in every race, expect Red Bull to give him time to adjust to what is the toughest job in motorsport.
Make no mistake, this year will be difficult for Lawson. However, he’s also had to overcome more than most to even reach the start line at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit.
But if the right things go his way, don’t be surprised if 2025 is one to remember for the 23-year-old from Pukekohe.
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.
