Liam Lawson placed his “huge respect” for Sergio Perez on record after replacing him at Red Bull, as he readies to support a Constructors’ title push.

Perez held on to his Red Bull seat against expectations over the 2024 summer break, but as it turned out, the chequered flag falling in Abu Dhabi did not only signal the end of the season, but also Perez’s Red Bull career – and perhaps his F1 career in general – with the Mexican racer walking away after an underwhelming campaign.

Liam Lawson has ‘big shoes to fill’ at Red Bull

As Max Verstappen raced to a fourth straight title, Sergio Perez slumped to P8 in the Drivers’ Championship standings – a whopping 285 points adrift – which severely hampered Red Bull in their effort to retain the Constructors’ title. Instead, that honour went to McLaren for the first time since 1998, with Ferrari coming in as runner-up.

Red Bull has called upon Liam Lawson as Perez’s successor, the Kiwi moving up from Racing Bulls with just 11 grands prix on the clock, and he admits he has “big shoes to fill” taking over from Perez, a driver who he had his run-ins with last season, including that infamous middle-finger salute from Lawson at Perez’s home race.

Asked by Sky F1 how much respect he has for Perez’s contribution to F1 – the Mexican a six-time grand prix winner – Lawson replied: “It’s huge.

“I mean, honestly, it goes back to when I was a kid and I remember watching a race, that I think really was one of his big sort of putting him on the map, was in Malaysia and in the Sauber and he was fighting with Fernando Alonso.

“And I remember that race as a kid, watching that, so to be competing against these guys now, anyways, to put things into perspective, is quite crazy.

“And I have a huge amount of respect for what he’s done in the sport, and what he’s done for this team.

“So yeah, in a way, it’s probably big shoes to fill, but obviously it’s exciting.”

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has made it clear that Lawson is to play the supporting role to Verstappen in F1 2025, a task he is onboard with.

“I would say yes, from a team perspective,” he said when asked to confirm that is the goal set by Red Bull, “and I would say what my job is as a driver, coming into Red Bull Racing, is to fight for that Constructors’. That’s the main team goal.

“So obviously, that’s what I’m set up to try and do, and anyway, achieving the best results is going to achieve that. So for me, my focus is to do as well as possible.”

That being said, Lawson does not always want to be the Verstappen ‘wingman’. He would like a World Championship of his own in his F1 future.

“Obviously, my ultimate goal in Formula 1 is to win a World Championship,” he continued. “Am I expected to come and do that straight away? No. But obviously, that’s where I’m trying to head to.

“And for me, I’ll be trying to do the best job I can and supporting the team.

“And yeah, at this stage, I don’t know how it’s going to go, but I think from a team perspective, yes, the goal is to try and compete as close to Max as possible.”

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