Chasing the “millions” in the Constructors’ Championship, Christian Klien believes Red Bull will not heap pressure on Liam Lawson to beat or even be as fast as Max Verstappen.

Instead, what they want from the New Zealander, says the former Red Bull driver, is “to collect points constantly”.

Less pressure, more space for Liam Lawson?

17 months after contesting his first Formula 1 Grand Prix with Red Bull’s junior team as a fill-in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, Lawson is finally a full-time Formula 1 driver.

Although Lawson has only contested 11 races, five in 2023 before his six-race audition at the end of the F1 2024 season, the 23-year-old was given the nod ahead of Yuki Tsunoda to replace Sergio Perez as Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate.

Lawson is not only stepping into one of the most scrutinised seats in F1 but also what Christian Horner called the “the hardest job” in the sport – that of Verstappen’s team-mate.

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While the Dutchman has won four World titles on the trot and taken 53 Grands Prix wins during those four seasons, his then-team-mate Perez managed one runner-up result and only five race wins. Even in 2023 when he was second to Verstappen, the Mexican driver was still almost 300 points down on the Dutchman.

But despite Perez not being able to hang onto Verstappen’s rear wing, Red Bull stuck by him and last year gave him a new two-year extension to bolster his confidence only to pay the price for that when they parted ways at the end of the year.

Signing Lawson in his stead, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has already made it clear that the New Zealander’s job isn’t to fight Verstappen, it’s to “help” him win a fifth World title. And to help Red Bull regain the Constructors’ crown that they lost to McLaren last year.

Klien believes this new approach will benefit Lawson as there’s no pressure to even be as fast as Verstappen; he just needs to score points consistently.

It’s a notably different approach to when Pierre Gasly joined the team in 2019 after just one year on the grid and was dropped after 12 races for failing to match Verstappen. Alex Albon also had a short-lived career of a year-and-a-half in the Red Bull before he was dropped.

“The leadership at Red Bull Racing has made a big turnaround in terms of putting pressure on the driver next to Verstappen in the team, so starting this year Lawson,” Klien told RacingNews365.

“Where there used to be great expectations immediately with [Pierre] Gasly, for example, you now see that the team has understood that Verstappen is simply different.

“They now know how special Verstappen is and that it would not be easy for any other driver to be at the Dutchman’s side.

“The team has realised that they need to take a different, conservative approach. In doing so, they will give Lawson time, despite the fact that he is not quite a rookie.”

“They will not require him to beat Verstappen or even be as fast as him,” the former Red Bull driver continued. “One is going to give Lawson time and hope that he can compete for podium spots during the season.

“He will have to collect points constantly, so that one doesn’t have to struggle so much in the Constructors’ Championship like last year.

“There are millions to be earned there and so it is important for Red Bull Racing to do better in that championship this year.

“To achieve that, they will put less pressure on Lawson and give him more space. That will be good for him and ultimately for the team.

“It doesn’t make sense for anyone to push the guy too much, not for him and not for the team. There has to be peace and the team will create that for him.”

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