“Can’t have two center forwards!” Christian Horner lays out Liam Lawson’s role against Max Verstappen at Red Bull

Christian Horner provided clarity over Liam Lawson's role against Max Verstappen at Red Bull for the 2025 season.

“Can’t have two center forwards!” Christian Horner lays out Liam Lawson’s role against Max Verstappen at Red Bull

Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull), Christian Horner (via IMAGO)

Liam Lawson is set to go up against Max Verstappen at Red Bull for the 2025 season. The Kiwi has already been warned of competing against the reigning world champion. Amidst the final preparations, Christian Horner has clarified Lawson’s role in the team against Verstappen.

Liam Lawson will deem his first full season with Red Bull despite making his debut mid-way through the 2023 season with AlphaTauri (presently RB). Lawson will face a ‘daunting’ task of going up against Max Verstappen. Christian Horner drew similarities between Formula 1 and Football to talk about Milton Keynes’ current situation.

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Horner reckoned that a Football team couldn’t have two elite center forwards. The reason is that a team needs strength and depth in the team. The 51-year-old believes that Lawson would provide the ‘depth’ to Red Bull from an engineering perspective. Meanwhile, Verstappen would be the strength of the team, fighting for race victories and potentially the championship. Regardless, the team principal anticipates a ‘tight’ competition between the two in 2025.

Absolutely. If you liken it to football, you can’t have two [elite] centre forwards – you’ve got to have strength and depth in your team. Liam is there to provide that strength in depth in what we need from an engineering perspective, from a tactical perspective, because it’s going to be tight [in 2025].

Christian Horner told talkSPORT.

Christian Horner labels Max Verstappen as ‘most valuable asset’ in Formula 1

Max Verstappen has emerged as one of the best drivers on the Formula 1 grid after winning four consecutive world championships. The Dutchman granted imminent success to Red Bull due to his dominant performances.

Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)
Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

Christian Horner labeled Verstappen as the ‘most valuable asset’ due to the latter’s success in recent years. Horner believes that any driver getting close to the Dutchman was ‘fantastic’. Regardless, Red Bull banked massive hopes on the 27-year-old to secure multiple victories.

Max Verstappen is the most valuable asset in Formula 1. He’s our lead driver. If you can get close to him, fantastic. But the reality is the expectation is for Max to win.

Christian Horner noted.

Red Bull has the daunting task of finding massive improvement over their performance in the 2024 season. Multiple teams and drivers look promising for championship contention in the coming season. Hence, time will tell about how the seemingly strong lineup at Milton Keynes pans out against the rivals in the final edition of the ground-effect era.