Ex-champion warns Red Bull over ‘arrogant’ Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen F1 pairing
Liam Lawson had quite a few on-track tussles during the 2024 F1 season with the senior-drivers of the sport.
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Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen (via Getty Images)
The 22-year-old Liam Lawson will be driving alongside Max Verstappen in the 2025 F1 season. Several pundits have had mixed opinions on this and amidst this, the Ex-F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has warned the Milton-Keynes-based Red Bull team.
According to the Canadian, Liam Lawson‘s approach in F1 could lead to the origin of some unnecessary problems for Red Bull. The New Zealander in his short 2024 RB stint (Red Bull’s junior team), made quite a reputation for himself as a bit of a cocky and aggressive bloke.
Looking at his antics, Villeneuve feels that friction could be created within Red Bull in 2025.
He’s very arrogant for someone with such little experience. So, we’ll see how that attitude works with Max and within the team. If Lawson is quick and pushes Max, there will be friction.
Jacques Villenueve via GPBlog
Lawson had quite a few on-track tussles with the lights of senior drivers Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez in the 2024 season. He is extremely inexperienced when it comes to F1 but despite this, has extreme confidence to go wheel-to-wheel with the heavy hitters of the sport. This could create problems for the Christian Horner-led team given Max Verstappen is used to being the top dog on the Austrian team.
Is Liam Lawson the best possible ‘driver’ option within Red Bull’s setup?
While Jacques Villeneuve has made strong remarks in relation to Liam Lawson, he also feels the latter has earned his Red Bull promotion on merit. The fight for the 2025 seat was between Lawson and the ever-improving Yuki Tsunoda.
New Zealand is not a country that brings huge value to F1 or brings sponsors. They wouldn’t have considered that. They just want the best drivers.
Jacques Villeneuve via the same interview
Lawson is stepping into an extremely tough environment at Red Bull. Several drivers have come and gone from the team, because of finding it extremely hard to go up against the four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
The 22-year-old will be under the microscope from the Australian GP onwards and will be required to stay close to Verstappen. Red Bull lost out on the 2024 Constructors’ Championship because of Perez’s shortcomings and they don’t want the repeat of the same. If Lawson fails in the initial few races of 2025, Horner and Co. could be tempted into looking at Tsunoda and dropping the former mid-season.
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Rishabh Negi
(3234 Articles Published)