Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner admits there is a danger of Liam Lawson struggling within the team’s environment by being promoted too soon.
Lawson has been picked to partner Max Verstappen in 2025 despite having started just 11 grands prix, with the more experienced Yuki Tsunoda overlooked to replace Sergio Perez. The Mexican had been brought in after both Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon struggled in the Red Bull seat early in their careers, and Horner acknowledges the risks that are associated with young drivers.
“Look, the danger is there’s a repeat of that,” Horner said. “But I think that Liam is a different character. He’s a different personality to be able to deal with that pressure. I think he’s shown real resilience and strength of character with the opportunity that’s been provided to have to turn up and get on with it and deliver — and he’s done that.
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“The plan initially wasn’t for that to be accelerated for this year. circumstances have dictated with Checo unfortunately not having a great season — that has been accelerated. But we believe where Liam is on the trajectory that he’s on, that will only improve.
“And he drives the car in a similar fashion to Max. He doesn’t shy away from having a very positive front end in the car. So I think in terms of driving characteristic, it will be easier for the cars to run more closely together in setup.”
Horner believes having a clear hierarchy with Verstappen as the lead driver is now a different scenario that should take the pressure off Lawson compared to juniors that have gone before him.
“Daniel [Ricciardo] and Max were a strong pairing. We then had two juniors that struggled. And that’s why obviously Checo then stepped into the car for the ’21 season and coped with the pressures of that well.
“I think the other factor that we’re focused very hard on is making sure that we’re creating a wider operating window with RB21 than RB20’s very narrow, very peaky performance window. So for us, to create a broader window will hopefully only help Liam find a more, perhaps forgiving car than RB20 could be on occasion.
“I think one of the things we’ll be looking to protect Liam from is expectation. Of course, when Alex and Pierre were with the team, Max wasn’t a four-time world champion. He hadn’t won a world championship at that point. We have a very clear positioning in the team with where Max is at in his career and what we need from the second driver.”
