Liam Lawson said his eagerness to impress Red Bull during his six-round return to Formula 1 last year led him to make some of the uncompromising moves which irritated rival drivers.
Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez criticised Lawson’s driving at times and even appeared to exact revenge when they met him again on the track.Lawson, who has taken Perez’s place at Red Bull this year, said he had to make the most of his return to RB (now Racing Bulls) because he knew that opportunity existed.
“I went in there obviously in a unique position. I had five or six races that I knew I was going to get, and that was my stint to prove that I was worthy of an F1 seat. Whether that was in [RB] or Red Bull, that was all I had the opportunity for.
“These guys have raced – especially Fernando – a long time,” he told Stuff. “So I went in there and made the most of every single lap that I drove in the car. I didn’t intend on pissing him off, but obviously I just raced him how I race people and it did that. I just tried to make the most of it.”
“Maybe knowing that extra bit of pressure, knowing what was on the line, maybe that sparked a few more… some of my not-so-finest moments,” he added. “But obviously I’m always learning as well and I learn from those.”
However Lawson said he has always been firm in his racing moves. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve changed at all,” he said. “Maybe I wasn’t on TV enough before or something like that, but basically this is how I’ve always raced.
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“Especially with the pathway to F1, quite often it feels unfair and I’ve always had to make the most of every opportunity. Now I’ve been extremely lucky with the timing of everything so I went in there and raced exactly how I feel like I always have.”
Having been promoted to an F1 seat after just 11 grand prix appearances, Lawson said he will keep his expectations in check to begin with.
“I have to be realistic. So, realistically, I know going in, I’m going to a whole bunch of tracks I’ve never done before and it’s my first full season, so I’m not expecting to go in there and fight with them for race wins instantly.
“But obviously I’m expecting to perform well and do the job that the team needs me to do. I’m obviously not there to lose either. I’m only there for one reason.”
He believes his long spell on Red Bull’s junior team, under the observation of Helmut Marko, has prepared him well for the opportunity.
“I think Red Bull’s environment for the last six years has always been [putting me] under pressure. That’s how it started when I was 16 and they signed me. I had the phone calls from Helmut every other week about ‘do the job, otherwise you’re axed’.
“Those kind of moments, obviously as a young driver, they put a lot of pressure on you and that builds you, really, for F1. So I feel like I’ve sort of been developed for this opportunity.”
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BasCB (@bascb)
13th January 2025, 7:27
I guess it’s good that he knows it, and admits he was doing that on purpose (as most expected already) to impress Red Bull.
Not sure it’s good he does that kind of thing (and I rather won’t go into how I feel about the “pressure cooker” thing Marko and RB feel is a good idea), but I guess we’ll see similar behaviour of him as soon as the “Lawson will be replaced by XY next race” headlines …
MacLeod (@macleod)
13th January 2025, 7:54
It was clearly to see he wanted to impress moving out of the way for Max and slamming Segio… But we have to see if he will holdup but what I saw from him he seems to be sturdy…..
BasCB (@bascb)
13th January 2025, 8:22
It was pretty much what most of us saw happening, yeah @macleod. I guess we’ll see before too soon how he holds up in the environment there.
El Pollo Loco
13th January 2025, 10:04
I think Lawson is tough and aggressive enough, but his speed is the bigger question. That and whether, if Max smashes or even just never loses to him week-after-week even if it’s often a respectable margin, that confidence + swagger will hold up.
MichaelN
13th January 2025, 8:52
What a charming fellow. And the results have been quite poor for years. No doubt Marko is too old to change his ways, but for Red Bull as a whole it should perhaps be of some concern that Lawson is the best Marko has found in the last decade! A decade in which he no doubt received a lot of money for his services.
El Pollo Loco
13th January 2025, 9:58
Yes. There’s a difference between healthy pressure and counterproductive pressure. I think some teams are overly patient in their expectations and exert too little pressure, but Marko is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Beyond the fact it’s not proven an effective MO, every driver obviously has a different personally and what works to motivate one driver may demotivate or hurt another driver.
In F1 as a whole, it is ironic that in a sport so obsessed w/using data + science to get results and is the ultimate in crafting novel, custom solutions, so many teams seem to be utterly clueless or backward in terms of the psychology of driver management. Marko probably thinks because a young Max was crafted into the driver he was by ruthless coaching all Red Bull drivers will or should.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th January 2025, 10:05
Which is funny, because the signs are that Max was already crafted into who he was from a young age, long before Red Bull came along, and they were able to lure him in only by promising him a seat right away, where Mercedes were unable/not willing to secure the same for him. Max is not a success of the Red Bull “system” but rather of the fact that they were willing to sideline their young driver scheme to claim him for them.
MichaelN
13th January 2025, 12:10
Indeed, Red Bull scooped him up, but he was heading to F1 regardless.
El Pollo Loco
14th January 2025, 0:59
That was what I was referring to. I was speaking of Jos’ “system.” Not RBR’s.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
13th January 2025, 10:32
It’s politics, not healthy competition. Politics is inherently toxic and abusive … And a lot of buzz words.
Frank
13th January 2025, 15:32
If politics is steering decisions and making things happen, then it does not need to be toxic and abusive.
Perhaps the fact that it often turns out to be just that is an excess that could – in theory – be avoided.
Navier-Stokes
13th January 2025, 11:10
He couldn’t beat Tsunoda, and now he faces the immense pressure of being Verstappen’s teammate. This feels like a recipe for disaster.
JimmyJ
14th January 2025, 22:33
Except that out of 11 races he and Yuki raced together (including sprints), Lawson beat Yuki on 5 occasions, Yuki beat Lawson on 6 ocassions. So not sure what racing you were watching…
El Pollo Loco
15th January 2025, 16:20
He was likely referring to the fact that Lawson lost every quali battle and that a bunch of the times he “finished ahead” were due to a DNS, Perez booting him off the track and other non-performance based factors.
Edvaldo
13th January 2025, 11:53
He even gave Perez the finger lol dude was determined.
But now is when the real pressure begins to mount as he was already told he shouldn’t try to race Max as he doesn’t stand a chance, the type of thing everyone would love to hear from their boss in a competition.
grat
13th January 2025, 14:54
Anyone else hear the Dread Pirate Roberts?
Moi
14th January 2025, 12:08
Turned out well enough for Wesley
Dale
13th January 2025, 15:00
Hahaha, what absolute BS from Liam.
His entire career has been surrounded by his ‘controversial’ moves … from wiping out half the DTM field, to brain-fart driving in F2 and SuperFormula.
No wonder he’s never won a championship of any relevance, or stuck around in any championship for longer than it took to burn most of his bridges.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th January 2025, 15:17
His driving in Super Formula certainly wasn’t brain-fart style.
People should remember that he became the first (foreign) driver to win as a series rookie in a long time.
anon
13th January 2025, 16:25
@jerejj claiming that Lawson was the first foreign driver to receive the honorary title of “rookie of the year as a series in a long time” is stretching things. Pierre Gasly and Alex Palou were both called “rookie of the year” in 2017 and 2019 respectively, which was only a few years before Lawson received that endorsement in 2023 (although, strictly speaking, whilst series such as the European Formula 3 championship used to have a “rookies championship” and a formal “rookie of the year” title, the Super Formula Championship technically doesn’t have a formal championship for rookies and really uses the term as an honorary title).
If you’re trying to claim that Lawson was the first foreign driver to win a race as a series rookie in a long time, that also doesn’t really hold up either – Gasly and Palou also won races in their rookie seasons.
If, instead, you’re trying to claim that Lawson won the series whilst being a rookie driver, that is also wrong – Lawson finished 2nd in the championship to Ritomo Miyata.
MichaelN
13th January 2025, 17:10
It’s not that rare for a foreign rookie to win; Giuliano Alesi did that in 2021, Palou in 2019, Gasly in 2017, Vandoorne in 2016.
El Pollo Loco
14th January 2025, 1:06
The biggest sign of Lawson’s averageness IMO is that when he was in his second year of F2 he only beat Logan (his teammate) by a single point who was an F2 rookie. I think Yuki is quicker than people give him credit for. So, even if it’s a bit of a red flag, I don’t see him being shut out in quali by Yuki quite as alarming as ofhers.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
14th January 2025, 2:39
I read a comment by Marko recently where he said at one point Logan got a fresh engine which was 3-5 tenths faster on the straights compared to Liam’s car. He said he was impressed with Liam who continued to fight even with such a bit disadvantage..
I’ve heard people try to put Liam down by comparing him to Logan so many times now. They simply aren’t in the same league no matter how close the points were in F2.
anon
14th January 2025, 7:21
@lejimster82 whilst there have certainly been questions about the consistency of the engines used in Formula 2, we have to bear in mind that Marko also has alternative motivations to make such claims (as well as the question of why Marko didn’t raise this at the time and is now only making the claims several years later).
Firstly, Marko has previously criticised the FIA’s licencing system and the cost of junior series, saying that the FIA needs to cut the cost of those series and should also make it much easier to promote drivers to Formula 1. He’s got an incentive to exaggerate the engine deficit in Formula 2 to amplify his complaint that the FIA are mismanaging that series, and there are those who watched the 2022 Formula 2 championship that think that, if there was such an engine deficit, Marko is significantly exaggerating the performance gap that might have existed.
Secondly, there may be an element of Marko engaging in a bit of revisionism about his previous comments on Lawson and his Formula 2 campaign as a way of justifying the decision to promote Lawson, rather than Tsunoda, to drive alongside Verstappen, given it has resulted in some increased scrutiny of Lawson’s performance in junior series.
He did make comments at the time indicating that he wasn’t fully convinced by Lawson’s performances in Formula 2, hence the decision to send him to drive in the Super Formula championship in 2023. Given that Marko has now made it clear he doesn’t want to promote Tsunoda to the Red Bull works team, it gives him an incentive to retrospectively adjust some of his comments about Lawson’s Formula 2 campaign to make his performances in Formula 2 look better and help justify his decisions now, particularly if it also fits the “tough battler” image that they are creating around Lawson.
El Pollo Loco
14th January 2025, 20:52
Good memory. Some additional facts in there that make Marko’s comments worth a fist full of salt. Not to mention the fact that should Lawson struggle, his inability to produce a strong driver through the Red Bull program since Danny Ric and Sainz (Max was never a Red Bull junior) is going to make him look very bad.
El Pollo Loco
14th January 2025, 20:48
I’m not saying Lawson isn’t better than Logan. Obviously he is. I’m saying his pedigree doesn’t suggest the makings of a special F1 driver. Regardless of how he does in F1, he’s a great driver.
tielemst
13th January 2025, 15:09
Ok, so the only thing he has to learn is to deny that they were aggressive moves to begin with and he’ll fit right in.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
13th January 2025, 17:27
I’m not following the logic because there will always be pressure at Red Bull. They don’t care if you’re under contract or not. If you don’t perform by midseason you’ll be out or back at RB.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
14th January 2025, 21:34
Unless you’re perez, then you’re safe for a couple of years and only if you bring in 0 points for ages will you be replaced (I say a couple as I’m thinking about late 2022-late 2024).
faulty (@faulty)
16th January 2025, 13:42
… “rival drivers” and fans.
Ay least in my case, the reason for feeling injustice had stricken Yuki was seeing that Liam can’t race to save himself. People were just avoiding contact in the latter part of the season.
That’s not going to happen when he’s in a red bull at the start of the year.