With Sergio Perez out at Red Bull Racing (RBR) leaves a seat up for grabs in the 2025 Formula One World Championship, one that young New Zealander Liam Lawson will fill. But Lawson has an uphill battle ahead of him if he wants a successful partnership with RBR next year, and only half a season to prove he’s worthy of the race car.
Lawson has had a successful showing during his tenure at Racing Bulls, RBR’s sister team, but that doesn’t fully clear him just yet. In fact, according to a report from Planet F1, Ralf Shumacher, former F1 driver, said that Lawson will have half a season in 2025 to prove himself – or get cut.
2023 Ford Puma M-Sport race car
“I think he will get half a season,” Schumacher said. “And if he shows it then, he will have a good seat. But next to Max Verstappen, that is quite a challenge.”
In other words, if Lawson doesn’t perform favorably or similarly with his RBR teammate, Verstappen, he’ll be ousted in favor of another driver who can as RBR seeks to stay as competitive as possible. Verstappen has a driving style that works for Red Bull Racing but a lot of it has to do with the equipment he has under him. For his part, Lawson says he’s looking forward to the challenge, and knows that RBR produces top-tier machinery.
“I think you have certain things you like a car to do but I think also, for me, I spent a lot of time developing that car as well, as a junior and as a reserve for the last couple of years, and I feel like I understand quite well the way the car drives,” Lawson told Planet F1. “But I also don’t fully believe in ‘This doesn’t suit your driving style.’ I think as drivers, we’re professionals, we have to adapt to whatever we’re driving.”
As a reminder, Ford will partner with RBR beginning in 2026 to produce power units for its race cars. The Blue Oval understands that shacking up with RBR is a big risk in and of itself, and will provide engine tech for the partnership. At the very least, Ford expects to learn some valuable lessons from the world of open-wheel racing as it continues to develop its next-generation battery-electric powertrain technology at the same time.
Comment
So the writer is getting information from Ralf Shumacher. What could go wrong with that? Red Bull knows what they are doing and Lawson is the best pick of the ones out there.