Liam Lawson can look at his ascent to Red Bull in one of two ways. The daunting reading is that he’s taking on a challenge that may have ended Sergio Perez’s F1 career.
Max Verstappen beat Perez so emphatically last year that Red Bull ended up backing out of his contract for 2025. The Mexican doesn’t have a seat for this season and given the reputational damage he’s suffered, teams may shy away from making him an offer next year too.
Karun Chandhok fears Lawson could burn out after his graduation. He’s only started 11 F1 races, and now he’s competing in one of the sport’s most brutal environments.
Indeed, it’s not difficult to envisage a scenario where Verstappen whitewashes Lawson in qualifying and competes for the title while the New Zealander scraps towards the lower end of the points. Even though Christian Horner won’t expect him to seriously challenge his teammate this year, that would be inescapably deflating.
On the other hand, Perez’s wretched season has lowered the bar for his successor. On average, Verstappen was 0.543% quicker last term – the second-biggest margin on the grid.
In lap times terms, that’s about half a second. If Lawson can halve the gap, and do the same points-wise (it was 285 in 2024) then it suddenly looks like a solid debut season, without requiring world-beating heights.
Liam Lawson struck by Max Verstappen’s sheer confidence after studying Red Bull telemetry
Speaking on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Lawson reflected on his test at Silverstone last summer. Nominally a filming day, the 22-year-old drove the RB20 and pursued a benchmark set by Verstappen.
Lawson didn’t disclose how close he got, but clearly the gap was small enough to inspire faith. He subsequently took the data home to study it.
He realised that Verstappen doesn’t have one outstanding strength, but instead drives with a supreme confidence. That allowed him to preserve his healthy championship lead last season even when the Red Bull car became unruly.
This may be harder to replicate than one ‘specific technique’. But it shows Lawson that he can push the car harder than he might think.
“We did a test last year, a comparison together at Silverstone,” he said. “It was just one lap each.
“But that data, I took it home and I’ve got it sitting on a shelf. I had that all year, just because it was the first time ever that I’d been able to compare directly against him and see exactly what he does as a driver.
“Although it was just one lap, it’s important to have that. And now I get that in every single session this year.
“It’s nothing stand-out [that he does differently]. It’s not like he’s got this specific technique that makes him amazing. It’s just putting everything together over a lap.
“For him, it’s more confidence than anything, especially the way the car’s been the last couple of years. It’s been a very difficult car to drive and because of his confidence, he’s able to drive it.
“You see that in data, just by entry speeds and things like that. But it’s nothing stand out.”
What Liam Lawson’s dad said to him after he showed Sergio Perez the middle finger
Surprisingly, Daniel Ricciardo was the only driver to congratulate Lawson on his Red Bull deal. He was the first casualty of the youngster’s rise when he lost his spot at Racing Bulls last autumn.
Lawson called the 2024 F1 season ‘brutal’ as he watched from the garage, waiting for his opportunity. He, Ricciardo and Perez were involved in a silly-season triangle.
Red Bull hired him because they believe has the temperament – as well as the speed – to cope alongside Verstappen. But they also had to issue a stern warning last year.
Horner cautioned Lawson on his behaviour after he showed Perez the middle finger at the Mexico City Grand Prix. His dad also rebuked him, pointing out that he hadn’t made that gesture on the race track since he was a child.
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