“If It Can’t be Max”: Liam Lawson Selects Charles Leclerc as Leading Driver of His ‘Dream F1 Team’

Liam Lawson (L) and Charles Leclerc (R)

An F1 team’s driver lineup can be a make or break decision with respect to the competitiveness of the outfit. Today, team owners would jump at the opportunity to have four-time world champion Max Verstappen on their teams. But for his 2025 teammate, Liam Lawson, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fits the bill instead.

The Kiwi driver recently sat down with popular F1 YouTuber and content creator, Tommo to sift through F1 personnel to devise his hypothetical F1 dream team. In all fairness, though, Lawson was asked to pick his dream F1 team with one caveat — he can’t pick anyone from Red Bull or its sister team, RB.

When it came to picking his driver lineup, he chose to go with the Prancing Horse’s most recent Italian GP winner. “Charles is in there for sure. He’s got to be in there. If I can’t have Max then you got to go Charles,” he explained.

Given that the 23-year-old picked Leclerc ahead of veteran world champions like Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso speaks volumes about how highly he rates the Monegasque racing ace. Even for the second seat, he wanted young blood.

Lawson expressed his desire to field a rookie driver. The #30 driver, however, explained that he would want a mix of youth and experience — indicating that he deems Leclerc as an experienced racer — to lead the charge for his team.

When asked to pick from the current crop of rookies on the 2025 grid, Lawson picked Alpine’s Jack Doohan to partner with Leclerc. The New Zealander revealed that Doohan’s Australian roots meant that “he was close to home”.

Is Lawson F1’s most experienced rookie?

Lawson’s decision to bank his faith on a rookie for his F1 team might have resonated with his own gratefulness for being handed a full-time F1 seat by Red Bull. And while the 2025 season will technically be the 23-year-old’s first full season in the sport, he isn’t exactly a rookie.

This is because the #30 driver has already raced in 11 Grands Prix between 2023 and 2024. Lawson was drafted in as a mid-season replacement for Daniel Ricciardo at RB after the #3 driver injured his wrist at the 2023 Dutch GP.

Last season, Lawson finally replaced Ricciardo after the eight-time Grand Prix winner was sacked by RB post the conclusion of the 2024 Singapore GP. However, despite having 11 races worth of experience, is he the most experienced ‘rookie’ on the grid?

Many might believe so. Having said that, 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli takes that crown away by a mile. Despite not competing in even a single race, the 2025 Mercedes driver has tested F1 machinery enough times to have competed in almost 30 races, in preparation for his debut this season.

Post Edited By: Aishwary Gaonkar
Charles Leclerc Liam Lawson Max Verstappen Red Bull

About the author

Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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