Stretching back to their DTM days, Liam Lawson has already been given a detailed insight on Red Bull life courtesy of Alex Albon.

And, now that Lawson has been named the new Red Bull team-mate to Max Verstappen, he will be going back for another briefing.

Liam Lawson ready for next Albon Red Bull education

After Sergio Perez’s departure from Red Bull following a bruising 2024 campaign, the team promoted Lawson from Racing Bulls to take his place,  his first full-time F1 drive alongside Verstappen after two super-sub stints with the B-team.

And it will be an almighty task, with Verstappen having developed a reputation for destroying his Red Bull team-mates, Perez far from the first. Between Pierre Gasly and Perez on the list was Alex Albon, who spent a season-and-a-half alongside Verstappen at Red Bull from 2019-20.

Demoted to reserve driver from there with Perez brought in, Albon also spent 2021 in DTM, where his team-mate was none other than Lawson. And it turns out that their discussions in that time were not solely focused on that series.

Asked by Sky F1 if Albon is someone he tapped into to find out what it is like going up against Verstappen, Lawson replied: “I definitely did.

“So when we were in DTM, he probably got sick of me asking him all the questions. But I did. I asked him a lot of questions about Red Bull and about what it was like in the team and how the car was especially.

“I know the car was different back then, but honestly, the characteristics are probably quite similar. And I’ve driven the car and I can say that it is aggressive, and it’s probably quite hard to drive.

“So he told me it was all about confidence and going up against Max, that’s what it obviously takes.

“But you know, in a way, obviously I’m not just going up against Max, I’m going up against everybody, and as a team, we’re trying to achieve the Constructors’ [title win].”

Albon should now brace himself for more Lawson questions.

“So yeah, I think he’ll be somebody that I contact again now knowing this, because obviously this is all very, very new,” Lawson continued. “But, yeah, I’ll be on the phone to Alex for sure in the next few weeks, and trying to get some more info.”

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Lawson has already been given his mission by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who sees the Kiwi as the supporting act to their four-time World Champion Max Verstappen, as Red Bull attempt to regain the Constructors’ crown after slipping to P3.

Asked by talkSPORT if Lawson has been signed to “complement” Verstappen, Horner confirmed: “Absolutely.

“If you liken it to football, you can’t have two [elite] centre forwards – you’ve got to have strength and depth in your team.

“I think that Liam, with the experience that he has coming into the team, is there to provide that strength in depth in what we need from an engineering perspective, from a tactical perspective, because it’s going to be tight next year.

“You’ve got Ferrari that’ll have [Lewis] Hamilton and [Charles] Leclerc two very strong drivers; you’ve got [Lando] Norris and Oscar Piastri at McLaren.

“There’s contradicting aspects [within F1] because, on the one hand, you’ve got the team and the drivers are contractors to the team.

“On the other side, you’ve got the Drivers’ Championship where the interest and the individual interest is. It’s about communication and being up front with the drivers.

“We’re perhaps slightly different to other teams where we go: ‘Do you know what? Max Verstappen is the most valuable asset in Formula 1. He’s our lead driver. If you can get close to him, fantastic. But the reality is the expectation is for Max to win.’

“A team like Ferrari next year, for example, are going to have two drivers that are going to be taking points off each other – and which horse do you back?

“You have to back both of them, but that sometimes becomes divisive within a team.

“Different teams have different approaches.”

2024 Formula 2 Championship runner-up Isack Hadjar joins the F1 2025 grid as Lawson’s replacement at Racing Bulls, where he will partner Yuki Tsunoda.

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