Liam Lawson is finally going to fight at the sharp end of the grid in his first full season, that too, against the best driver currently — Max Verstappen. The Dutchman is quite famous for dominating his teammates by outperforming them in every single aspect. Lawson would want to avoid that fate faced by his predecessors like Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon.
The Kiwi driver has been part of the Red Bull stable as a young and reserve driver, so he has been in conversation with Albon when the Williams man was at Milton Keynes. Back in the day, the duo were driving for Red Bull’s DTM team, where Lawson often asked him questions about what it is like to be Verstappen’s teammate.
In a recent exclusive interview with Sky Sports F1, Craig Slater asked him whether he would turn back to Albon for some advice about going up against the four-time world champion. Lawson recalled his conversations with the Thai-British driver and their similar opinions about how the Red Bull car is “aggressive” and “quite hard to drive”.
“He told me it was all about confidence and going up against Max, that’s what it obviously takes. But you know in a way obviously I’m not just going up against Max, I’m going up against everybody and as a team we’re trying to achieve the constructors,” Lawson stated.
The 22-year-old mentioned that he would contact Albon again to get some pointers on how he can balance being a team player and, at the same time, try to match Verstappen’s pace without ruffling his feathers. That’s something no driver has been able to do in the decade-old career of the Dutchman. So, Lawson is trying to complete a novel achievement.
But to kick things off, Verstappen and Lawson will start their bond as teammates on a good note. The duo have interacted a lot since the Kiwi has been part of the Red Bull academy and has often helped them with simulator work. They also have a light-hearted anecdote about having the same shoe size.
When Lawson lent his boots to Verstappen
The iconic shot of Verstappen kicking his burst rear tire on the long straight of the Baku City circuit has gone down into F1 folklore. The Red Bull driver had to retire from the lead of the 2021 Azerbaijan GP due to that sudden puncture, and he was naturally frustrated. But the boots he was wearing were not his own, in fact, they were Lawson’s.
The picture of him kicking the tires clearly showed that Verstappen was wearing black boots instead of his regular Red Bull-branded boots. Lawson later revealed that he lent him those, as the Dutchman’s regular boots had not arrived. Except for Lawson, no one else had the same shoe size as Verstappen, so it was a natural choice.
Baku 2021, Max’s boots hadn’t arrived in time so Max took Liam’s boots. Liam:“Oli said ‘I gave these to RB, Max needs to wear them cuz you’re the only person with the same size feet’. They weren’t even RB boots. I’m kinda sad I didn’t give him nice boots. My boots get to F1 and I don’t”.
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However, the Kiwi driver felt sad that they weren’t Red Bull boots. “I’m kinda sad I didn’t give him nice boots. My boots get to F1 and I don’t”, he jokingly said.
In 2025, if there is a shoe emergency like this, the two Red Bull teammates won’t shy away from sharing racing boots if needed. But Lawson knows that Verstappen won’t be so cordial with him on track, so he needs to buckle up for a tough challenge.
