After two stints with Red Bull’s junior team – now known as Visa Cash App Racing Bulls – Liam Lawson will have a potentially race-winning car under his control after just 11 Grand Prix starts.
It means he’s the least experienced driver to race for Red Bull in Formula 1 since Robert Doornbos, with Alex Albon promoted similarly with one additional race under his belt.
The challenge of competing with Max Verstappen becomes greater every year as he builds up more experience.
His dominance has meant that Red Bull – whether they mean to or not – have been slowly developing their car to suit his driving style, making it increasingly difficult for his teammates to adapt.
Albon went to ‘non-stop’ lengths to try and match Verstappen but was eventually dropped by team principal Christian Horner.
Lawson’s predecessor Sergio Perez managed to survive four campaigns alongside the Dutchman, but it was clear that for the past 18 months of his Red Bull career, he was struggling.
Karun Chandhok, in an interview with Autosport, has given Lawson some advice on what to do heading into this season.
He believes that the New Zealander should be looking to take inspiration from a former Ferrari driver who faced a similar scenario when he raced alongside Michael Schumacher.
Writing in his column about the 23-year-old’s chances, Chandhok said: “Throwing Liam Lawson into the lion’s den without a full season of f1 experience under his belt is going to be tricky.
“He’s a driver that I have rated very highly throughout his junior career. Like Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Ollie Bearman, I don’t think Liam’s F2 results on paper were a fair reflection of his talent.
“He’s smart, fast and has shown already to be a hard racer in wheel-to-wheel combat. Liam’s also got that extra fire in his belly that any young athlete who has sacrificed their home life to live halfway around the world will have (I know that feeling!).
“Psychologically he’s got to approach this challenge in an Eddie Irvine circa 1996-99 sort of way.
“As a driver, it’s hard to accept this, but somehow he’s got to go into this year thinking, ‘I’m teammates with the best in the business, I’m not going to beat him but I’m bloody fortunate to be in a top seat, and if I can get close to him then there will be days when the stars align for me to win some races.’”
Northern Irishman Irvine raced in F1 for a decade and started nearly 150 Grand Prix.
Spells at Jordan and Jaguar fell either side of four seasons with Ferrari when he signed in 1996 at the same time as Schumacher.
The German was already a two-time champion and Irvine brought in to be his trusty number two.
Irvine went on to win four races and secure 26 podiums during his career and finished second in the championship in 1999 when Schumacher was ruled out due to breaking his leg at Silverstone.
Schumacher denied Irvine the chance to win the title that year as if he had moved over for him at the final race in Japan, his Ferrari teammate would have beaten Mika Hakkinen on countback.
The German didn’t want Irvine to be the driver to end Ferrari’s wait for a championship and the following year won the first of five consecutive titles.
It’s the same aim Verstappen has in 2025 and while Lawson is unlikely to be the driver that denies him, the blueprint exists for how to effectively race alongside such a dominant character.
