Liam Lawson is the next driver to take the second seat at Red Bull. After just 11 Grand Prix starts, he has the daunting prospect of going up against Max Verstappen.
The Kiwi driver impressed the Red Bull hierarchy with his sub-appearances for Racing Bulls (formerly AlphaTauri) in 2023 and 2024.
Lawson scored four points as Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement in six races last year. Despite being outqualified by teammate Yuki Tsunoda, he was close to his pace and quickly became the favourite to replace Sergio Perez.
| Category | Yuki Tsunoda | Liam Lawson |
| 2024 points | 8 | 4 |
| Grand Prix results | 4 | 2 |
| Grand Prix qualifying | 6 | 0 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix poles | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix podiums | 0 | 0 |
| Best finish | 7th | 9th |
| Retirements | 1 | 0 |
| Retirements (classified finish) | 0 | 1 |
| Fastest laps | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix points finishes | 2 | 2 |
| Sprint results | 0 | 3 |
| Sprint Qualifying | 0 | 3 |
| Sprint wins | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint poles | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint podiums | 0 | 0 |
Sure enough, the 23-year-old was given the nod to race for Red Bull in 2025. While Lawson has proved his seat in F1 is merited, many people have questioned the decision given his inexperience.
Tsunoda will now enter his fifth year with Racing Bulls after beating both Ricciardo and Lawson in the teammate battle. Red Bull will keep tabs on Tsunoda during the 2025 season, hinting they may bring him in if the Kiwi driver struggles.
Karun Chandhok feels Red Bull should have gone for more experience next to Verstappen. The Sky Sports pundit is ‘worried’ about Lawson heading into his first full season in F1.
Karun Chandhok is concerned Liam Lawson will be the next to be ‘burnt out’ at Red Bull
Since 2018, Verstappen has dominated his teammates at Red Bull. The likes of Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Perez have all been dropped by the team after underperforming against the Dutchman.
Gerhard Berger thinks Red Bull should have signed Carlos Sainz instead of Lawson given his experience. The Spaniard was linked with the Milton Keynes-based outfit but the team were not keen on reuniting him with Verstappen.
Chandhok agrees with Berger that Red Bull should have gone for Sainz and even Albon before opting for Lawson. The former F1 driver hopes the Kiwi driver will not be the next to be ‘burnt out’ next to Verstappen.
“I think Liam is tremendously talented, I really do.” he said.
“My concern is that he’s not had a full season of F1 yet and I’m a bit worried that if he’s in there too soon, you could run the risk of him being the next one to join the queue of drivers getting burnt too early in their career.
“Whereas if they kept him and Yuki at Racing Bulls for another year, had someone else there for another year or two and then give Liam a chance when he’s a bit more experienced.
“I really hope he proves me wrong.”
Liam Lawson has already pointed out a handling issue with Red Bull’s 2025 car
It may be early doors, but Lawson has already encountered some difficulties in pre-season testing in Bahrain. The Kiwi driver spun at turn three in the morning session after hitting the curb at turn two and losing the back end.
Christian Horner says a gust of wind caught Lawson out as he spun onto the infield. Thankfully, he did not hit the barriers but had to return to the pits after flat-spotting his tyres.
Red Bull will hate Lawson’s spin as rival teams can ‘screengrab’ footage of how their flow visualisation works. Teams are usually secretive about their exploits in testing.
Lawson has already seen a handling issue with the RB21 after gesturing to his engineers in the garage in Bahrain. This will be a concern for his teammate as Verstappen ‘hated’ the oversteer he faced last year.
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