Former Red Bull driver shares how Liam Lawson could be a ‘threat’ to Max Verstappen in 2025

Liam Lawson is the next driver to go up against Max Verstappen at Red Bull. The Kiwi driver has been promoted from Racing Bulls for his first full season in F1.

Replacing the sacked Daniel Ricciardo from Austin onwards, Lawson scored four points in his six races in 2024. The 23-year-old also replaced the Aussie in 2023 for five races after his injury in Zandvoort, scoring two points.

Lawson was generally outperformed by teammate Yuki Tsunoda last season, losing 6-0 in the qualifying battle – not including Sprint weekends. But the 23-year-old was close to the Japanese driver’s pace.

Helmut Marko thinks Lawson has the mental capacity to go against Verstappen – and he will need that in abundance in 2025.

The Dutchman has been unstoppable at Red Bull since 2018, with each of his teammates either leaving the team or being dropped after failing to compete alongside him.

One driver who experienced getting the boot from the Milton Keynes-based outfit was Daniil Kvyat. Ironically, it was Verstappen who replaced him in 2016, with the duo swapping teams after the Russian Grand Prix.

Daniil Kvyat thinks Liam Lawson could be a ‘threat’ to Max Verstappen if he edges closer every race

Verstappen is excited to work with Lawson in 2025 but of course, the Dutchman will be looking to beat him. However, Kvyat thinks the four-time champion may not have it easy.

Speaking on the RacingNews365 YouTube channel, journalist Nick Golding spoke with Kvyat in Jeddah ahead of his Formula E rookie test. The Russian thinks Lawson could be a ‘threat’ to Verstappen if he can ‘chip away’ at his advantage over the season.

“Daniil actually thinks it’s really good for Liam to be up alongside Max and Daniil believes, and I think Liam will also hopefully believe,” said Golding.

“That if Liam can just chip away session by session, taking maybe each Grand Prix, getting maybe a tenth or two closer to Max for each race, for each event the season progresses.

“Actually, that could eventually start putting Max under pressure because whilst Check did a couple of times have the better of Max, typically at street circuits as we saw.

“Max has never, maybe except from Daniel Ricciardo back in 2016, Max has never had a teammate who has consistently chipped away at him race after race and gotten closer.

“And for that reason, Daniil actually believes that Liam really could be a threat for Max.”

How Liam Lawson matched up against Max Verstappen in GT cars

Lawson will be under ‘immense’ pressure to deliver at Red Bull in 2025. The team are hoping to reclaim their constructors’ title after finishing third behind McLaren and Ferrari last year.

The Kiwi driver will be expected to fight at the front at even compete for race wins. Christian Klien hopes Red Bull do not pressure Lawson too much and risk the same mistake they made with Alex Albon.

The battle between Lawson and Verstappen could be interesting in equal machinery, especially considering how close they were together in other racing cars.

Lawson was ‘incredibly fast’ in GT cars from his time in DTM – equally as quick as Verstappen who occasionally races sports car both on the track and in his sim racing exploits.