Will Red Bull treat Liam Lawson equally to Max Verstappen?
22-year-old Liam Lawson will be racing alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull in his first full season in Formula 1.
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Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson (via IMAGO)
Red Bull has finally made a change in its driver lineup. Sergio Perez has been let go by the Austrian team in favor of Liam Lawson. The 22-year-old will go up against Max Verstappen as his teammate. However, there are doubts about Milton Keynes giving equal focus on the Kiwi driver.
Max Verstappen has annihilated his teammates in recent years. Sergio Perez managed to stay at Red Bull for multiple seasons despite never being close to the Dutch driver in terms of performance. The Mexican driver was a staggering 280 points behind Verstappen last season.
The Austrian team wants to change this with Liam Lawson. The Kiwi driver is seen as one of the most promising young talents on the grid. Though, Lawson might find it difficult to win over Milton Keynes at the start of the 2025 campaign.
Liam Lawson is no Sergio Perez
It is no secret that Max Verstappen is the de-facto number 1 driver at Red Bull. As such, this would continue this year. The Red Bull garage will not make any major changes to its functioning despite Liam Lawson’s arrival for the start of the year.
However, Lawson is not Perez. The Austrian team has not promoted the 22-year-old as a placeholder. Rather, Liam Lawson is Red Bull’s future prospect if Verstappen decides to leave the team in the foreseeable future.
Thus, the 22-year-old would not be written off completely as a number 2 driver. It is likely that Red Bull will give Liam Lawson ample opportunities to prove himself as a capable driver at the front. If the Kiwi driver can manage to match Max Verstappen, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko will take notice.
The road will not be easy for Liam Lawson. However, if he manages to stay clear of trouble and match expectations, Red Bull will finally have a potential successor to Verstappen. The Dutch driver has often hinted about not wanting to stay in F1 for long. As such, it is likely that Lawson will be given support from Milton Keynes, something his predecessors lacked.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2321 Articles Published)