Liam Lawson exclusive: The exciting 'opportunity' of being Max ...

Liam Lawson has identified what he believes is the most exciting aspect of being Max Verstappen’s teammate, if he gets the nod to join Red Bull.

The Kiwi driver is understood to be the favourite to join Red Bull Racing alongside Max Verstappen in F1 2025, should the squad decide to drop Sergio Perez from its driver line-up.

Red Bull is engaging in talks with Sergio Perez over the nature of his future with the brand, with the Mexican driver understood to have been offered a driver ambassadorship role for the future.

Should Red Bull and Perez reach an agreement over his future, and the Milton Keynes-based squad does make a change, all the indications are that one of the current VCARB drivers will step up to the senior team – Lawson being mooted as the favourite to get the nod, having spent this season waiting patiently on the sidelines as reserve driver for the Red Bull squads.

This is despite the Kiwi driver being considerably less experienced than Yuki Tsunoda, with Lawson having just completed his 11th race in Formula 1 after a brief spell substituting for the injured Daniel Ricciardo in 2023 before getting a six-race audition in Ricciardo’s place at the end of 2024.

Should Lawson get the drive alongside Max Verstappen next season, it will have been a very rapid ascension for the young man from New Zealand – not even half a season of Grands Prix under his belt before being thrust into a seat that has seen other drivers founder alongside Verstappen’s imperiousity.

These include Williams’ Alex Albon and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, both of whom struggled for form alongside Verstappen before losing their drives.

Faced with such a precedent, one might think that Lawson would be cowed by such a prospect. After all, Albon and Gasly have each proven their mettle in the midfield in the years since – what makes Lawson believe he can fare better than them?

“I don’t know what they felt when they were there,” Lawson says as he sat down with PlanetF1.com on a busy Thursday media day at Yas Marina ahead of last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Lawson doesn’t give the impression of someone who is new and inexperienced in F1, wide-eyed with disbelief at overcoming the incredible odds to get here.

He answers questions in a direct and confident manner, unyielding in his eye contact as he skirts around what is an odd situation in terms of dynamics – after all, his future is somehow both a hypothetical and a near-certainty, simultaneously.

“You can always look at it as an outsider and think ‘this is what it looks like they felt’,” Lawson continued.

“But I don’t know what it was like for them. I believe, for anybody to go up against Max, you have to be realistic and know that he’s the fastest guy on the grid right now, and that you’re not gonna be out-qualifying the guy by half a second.

“It’s not gonna be something that’s really gonna be happening. For me, it’s more the opportunity that’s there to learn from the best.”

It’s in the unfettered access to Verstappen’s data, and the ability to be able to glean what he needs from this information, that Lawson is salivating over, should he get the chance to step into the Red Bull.

“For me as a driver, to be able to go in against the guy who’s won four world championships and is well seasoned…. he’s been in that car for a long time,” he said.

“That car is almost… not developed around him, but he’s been a massive part of developing that car and understands it very well.

“In terms of how to drive it, it’s all right there on paper. When you see all the data that he brings in, for me as a driver to be alongside that, to be able to learn from him and have all that access, I think that’s what’s exciting for me about the opportunity… if that opportunity was to come in the future.”

From speaking with people at Red Bull, there’s a particular characteristic of Lawson’s that’s usually the first pointed out about him as a positive. While every driver is usually full of self-confidence, Lawson has been described as “unshakeable” by some – where has this inner belief stemmed from, given his lack of F1 experience?

“I think it’s something that you’re either born with or you’re not, maybe,” he replied.

“I mean, I feel fortunate that I was born with it, and I’ve always had that belief.

“I think whether you’re fighting in the midfield or at the front of the field, to be perfectly honest, it’s actually no different… the performance, as a driver, we try to achieve in a race weekend is the best possible performance that we can do.

“In a qualifying session, it’s the best possible lap that you can do. Whether you’re in a top team or a midfield team, you can only put that car so far up the grid.

“But, as long as you finish that lap and you feel like you’ve done the best when you finish the weekend and you feel like you’ve done the best job that you can, then your result is going to be what it’s going to be.

“If we look at Qatar, for example, I feel like, in qualifying there, honestly, especially in the Sprint Qualifying, that was the best possible job I feel like I could have done.

“But then we look at a session in Brazil where it’s wet and now we’re in the top five and things like that, it changes.

“So I think in a top car, the approach is the same. You’re trying to do and execute the best job you can. The only thing that changes is the spot that you’re in.”

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Lawson’s six-race audition has now come to an end after Abu Dhabi, and he now faces the wait to see whether he has done enough to impress Red Bull enough to slot in at the senior team.

To that end, Lawson has gone through an intensive period of evaluation. How has he taken on the feedback from his VCARB bosses Laurent Mekies and Peter Bayer, and what have Red Bull’s Christian Horner and Helmut Marko had to say about him?

“They’re very realistic. So, if I do a good job, they’re happy with the result,” Lawson said.

Having been part of Red Bull’s driver programme for the past six years, Lawson explained how the longevity of that relationship has benefitted him.

“If I don’t do a good job, they’re very accurate on explaining to me things I could do better. That’s what I’m here to do. I’m here to learn as well,” he said.

“It’s very early on for me, and I want to have a long future in Formula 1.

“So, for me, it’s important to have those conversations and be aware of things that I can improve on. I think, fortunately for a long time, especially having Helmut from a young age putting pressure and critiquing everything that you do as a driver, I think that’s helped build me into a stronger person to be able to deal with Formula 1.”

What’s also evident is that Lawson has deeply ingratiated himself with the VCARB camp – a fact that’s all too evident as our interview comes to a close.

Walking through the hospitality unit, he is constantly smiling and chatting with fellow employees, with plenty of laughter and hugging as he starts to make his way out into the stiflingly hot paddock at Yas Marina.

The last 18 months have required Lawson to show extraordinary patience, with what has been an uncertain future as the Red Bull/VCARB driver line-ups remained static this year.

While chomping at the bit to make it onto the grid, Lawson has kept the faith with Red Bull – all that seems to remain is figuring out which of the two Red Bull teams he will jump in at as a full-time racing driver next season.

With 11 races under his belt, has what he’s seen of F1 matched up to his level of expectation regarding the extent of the challenge?

“I think, honestly, I had such a clear picture even before because I spent so long as reserve,” he said.

“I knew I’d seen, really from the outside, what it was like for a driver.

“I saw everything watching as a reserve, so I think I had a pretty clear picture.

“But I would say, when you’re dealing with it as a driver, when it’s actually you… maybe it’s slightly different. You don’t expect it. But honestly, I would say it’s about what I expected.”

For now, regardless of how loud the speculation is, Lawson’s future isn’t confirmed. While there certainly isn’t any sort of vibe that Lawson is racing his last race (for now) in Formula 1, is there any sort of niggling worry that he might not be on the grid – has he made any sort of contingency plan in the offchance things don’t quite work out as they seem to be?

“Honestly, no. But that’s also how it’s always been to me,” he said.

“I’ve always been focused on Formula 1 and never really had any backup plans. That’s probably where my head’s at right now is – I’m here to be a Formula 1 driver and if that were to change, I’d re-assess.”

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