Liam Lawson’s short cameo appearances in F1 have reflected his potential, upon which Red Bull have trusted to put him beside Max Verstappen for 2025. In his 11 race starts in F1, the Kiwi driver has shown his ability to maximize the performance of his car and pull off some stellar results. However, at Red Bull, he may just have to play deputy to Verstappen, per F1 commentator Mark Gallagher.
Gallagher said on the Business of Winning podcast, “If he (Lawson) is half as sensible as I think he is, he’s gonna know that his job is to support Max, to get in there, to learn, to keep the points going. If Max is on pole, he will be 3rd, or Max is 2nd, he’ll be 4th.”
Gallagher does not believe that Lawson will purposely stay behind Verstappen, and certainly, the New Zealander isn’t that sort of a driver. However, Red Bull will be clear about their expectations from Lawson.
In the past several years, there hasn’t been a driver who has consistently backed up the Dutchman, who has been winning at the front week in and week out. Sergio Perez and Alex Albon showed glimpses of the same but were never consistent enough for Red Bull‘s liking.
Perez was proving to be the perfect second fiddle, but his performances in the second half of the 2023 and 2024 seasons were unacceptable. Red Bull expects Lawson to bridge this gap first and produce consistent results at the top.
From his performances so far, the 22-year-old has shown that he can deliver on these expectations. Despite the negative opinion around his promotion, Lawson doesn’t seem like an individual who would crack under pressure.
Lawson doesn’t seem like a pushover and a number two
Lawson has shown all the qualities of being the main character even though he may be expected to play second fiddle to Verstappen. In the six races that the Kiwi driver raced in 2024, he managed to ruffle many feathers with the cherry on top being him getting the Red Bull seat.
Lawson doesn’t seem like just another Red Bull junior, who is getting his due at the top too early. He has had to wait on the sidelines for two seasons, which also gave him the 11 race starts as an audition for his full-time seat. During this time, the 22-year-old has polished his skills in Super Formula and DTM, something many people forget.
Lawson’s demeanor on and off the track has shown that he can take the heat, even when he is fighting with the very best. His tussle with Sergio Perez — who was in a Red Bull car — in Mexico proved that he isn’t someone who will be intimidated easily. Similarly, a week prior to that, the Kiwi had a run-in with Fernando Alonso.
Liam Lawson vs Fernando Alonso
The duo came together in a number of sessions across the weekend #F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/6TLM3z8PGO
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 22, 2024
The Spaniard naturally wasn’t happy with Lawson’s aggressive maneuvers on him but understood that he was not a regular young driver who would just give up against the seniority of a multiple world champion. Now, that could be a tough issue to tackle for Red Bull if the Hastings-born driver starts to match Verstappen.
It is a very steep challenge, no denying that, and Lawson will have to pull out his very best to beat the Dutchman on merit consistently. But just in case, if he can do so, that is going to shatter a lot of perceptions and negativity against him.
