Liam Lawson backed for Red Bull seat by Max Verstappen’s dad

By Alex Powell

Liam Lawson’s push for a place in Red Bull’s senior ranks has received a glowing endorsement from Jos Verstappen, father of world champion Max.

The 22-year-old Kiwi has excelled on his return to Formula One, taking four points from his first three races in an RB car that’s for the most part been uncompetitive in 2024.

Lawson’s performances have come with pressure on Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez, after a season of mostly disappointing results.

Speaking to Swedish outlet Viaplay, Jos Verstappen outlined he would have no issue seeing Lawson partner his son, despite concerns over a lack of experience.

“I think Lawson is doing very well,” Verstappen said. “It seems logical to me that he is ready to step up.

“Let him finish this season and build confidence and then the team has to decide what they do for next year.

“It’s better if there is someone who is competitive and pushes Max forward a bit. That always helps, but we’ll see.”

Getting behind the wheel for the first time in more than a year, Lawson took ninth place in the US Grand Prix at Austin, having started 19th on the grid.

And after his Mexican Grand Prix was ruined by a late collision with Williams’ Franco Colapinto, Lawson backed up his efforts with another ninth in horrendous conditions at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Monday (NZ time).

While in isolation, Lawson’s results have been impressive, the wider context of Red Bull’s driver pairing make the Kiwi’s efforts all the more significant.

Despite Max Verstappen now being odds-on to claim a fourth successive world title, Red Bull as a team are languishing third in the constructors championship.

And while harsh to put a team’s struggles down to one person, Red Bull’s woes can be put down to the performances of Perez.

The 34-year-old Mexican started the season in fantastic form, taking four podiums in his first five races. Those results saw Red Bull hand him a two-year contract extension, the first of which is guaranteed, while the second is a team option.

Since then, though, Perez’s form has dramatically fallen off a cliff. While Verstappen leads the championship with 393 points, Perez sits eighth with 151 - in the same car. And in the constructors championship, Red Bull have fallen from first to third, and trail McLaren by 49 points with three races left in the season.

Red Bull had a contractual option to sack Perez at the summer break earlier this year, but opted to retain him instead, as neither Lawson nor Daniel Ricciardo guaranteed to offer immediate improvement.

Since then, though, Lawson has successfully replaced Ricciardo at RB, and while he was only afforded the final six Grands Prix of 2024, it is widely understood that stint is an audition for the Kiwi to replace Perez from 2025.

The pair clashed on track in Mexico, in a battle that Lawson convincingly got the better of his opponent. Lawson did the same in Brazil, defending from Perez in horrendous weather at Interlagos.

Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s senior adviser and head of driver development, has said no decision will be made until the end of the season as to which of Perez or Lawson will drive for Red Bull in 2025.

But given Lawson has now beaten his competition in two of three races, in an inferior car, momentum is with the Kiwi.

The Formula One season resumes in late November with the Las Vegas Grand Prix, before concluding in Qatar and Abu Dhabi in December.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission