Red Bull Racing may be longer by constructors’ champions but they have plenty of reasons to be excited for the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Max Verstappen is still the reigning drivers’ champion and will be hoping to win a fifth consecutive title this year.
He’s also joined by another new teammate at Red Bull with team principal Christian Horner deciding to promote Liam Lawson during the off-season.
Lawson is on the cusp of being considered a Formula 1 rookie having never started a season in a race seat.
However, he already has 11 Grand Prix under his belt during two separate stints with AlphaTauri and latterly RB.
Much has been made of how many inexperienced drivers are on the grid this year and the Australian Grand Prix poses a particularly difficult challenge.
Only three drivers have ever finished on the podium when making their debut in Australia – Jacques Villeneuve, Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen.
While Lawson wouldn’t be added to that list even if he did record a top-three finish, it highlights that experience can be crucial at Albert Park.
Lawson is being tipped as the biggest surprise of 2025 by Nico Rosberg, but it was the New Zealander who had a shock when being interviewed by journalist Jon Noble.
Noble revealed on The Race F1 Podcast that Lawson was stunned when he was told he’s the only driver on the grid who has never raced at Albert Park before in their career.
Liam Lawson ‘very disappointed’ to learn Australian Grand Prix fact
Talking about the 23-year-old’s first race with Red Bull, Noble explained: “There’s also an interesting quirk with Lawson’s career that he’s never raced at Melbourne before.
“He was out of Formula 2 when F2 went there, so he didn’t race in his junior career.
“So, I mentioned this to him at the F1 75 launch, I said, ‘As far as I understand, you’re the only rookie who hasn’t raced in Melbourne.’
“He said, ‘No, surely Antonelli and Hadjar and stuff haven’t’, I said, ‘No, they’ve done Formula 2.’
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“So, they know it quite well. He looked very, very disappointed! His face dropped a little bit.
“So, I think it’s going to be a brutal start as Melbourne’s not an easy track, really, really difficult to kind of nail it because there’s no room for error, some very quick sections, walls very near so can go quite wrong.
“And then you go from Melbourne straight into a Sprint Race in China, so in terms of starts of seasons go, there’s not much room for getting some time to get up to speed.”
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After three days of testing in Bahrain, it appears as though Red Bull are part of the group trying to chase down McLaren.
Lawson looked frustrated in the Red Bull garage at one point and he and Verstappen completed the fewest laps of any drivers in the paddock in Sakhir.
However, Lawson’s position as Verstappen’s backup puts Red Bull in a stronger position than some of their rivals.
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As long as he scores more points than Sergio Perez did last season, Lawson will already be doing the job he’s been hired for.
While he’ll eventually have ambitions to go on and win races and championships, supporting Verstappen now is a good way to earn his trust going forward.
Verstappen’s camp are big fans of Lawson and if the likes of Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari see their two drivers taking points off each other, the Dutchman should be able to capitalise.
