Liam Lawson on being Verstappen's No 2 and criticism: ‘I could not care less what Zak Brown says'

Telegraph

21-03-2025

Liam Lawson spent Monday of this week recovering from his Melbourne ordeal by going to a spa in the Victorian capital 'and then to a sound bath'.
For those unfamiliar with what a sound bath is, Lawson describes it as 'a bit hippy dippy'. 'Basically, you lie down in a tank and they play lots of different instruments, and there are like 'rain noises' in the background,' he says. 'My friend recommended it.' Is it nice? 'I mean, I sleep to rain noises so I loved it.'
Red Bull 's newest recruit sits back in the sunshine on the balcony of the team's paddock home in China and closes his eyes, basking in the warmth. It was no wonder Lawson felt the need to 'decompress', as the New Zealander describes it, after Australia. It was a bruising first weekend as Max Verstappen's team-mate.
Lawson, who was controversially promoted to the second Red Bull seat after Mexican Sergio Perez was summarily dismissed at the end of last term, struggled badly in Melbourne, suffering from reliability issues, qualifying down in 18th, and then crashing out late in what was a wet and wild race. That was after his mechanics had bolted on a different rear wing and rear beam wing in the hope of getting him back up the field.
'Very, very tough,' is how Lawson describes the weekend as a whole. 'I was disappointed, not only for myself but for all my family and friends who came over from New Zealand to support me. And the team obviously. I was just gutted, to be honest. We've all spent a lot of time preparing for this, and the guys worked really, really hard before the race to do a last-minute change.
'In some ways, though, I'm glad that we have another race this weekend straight away.'
The bad news for Lawson – who was speaking before the track action in China got under way on Friday – is it looks as if it may get worse before it gets any better.
China being a sprint weekend, the drivers had just one practice session on Friday to get up to speed before qualifying for Saturday's sprint race. And Shanghai is another brand new track for Lawson to get to grips with. Again he looked ill at ease, going off in practice on Friday morning and then bombing out SQ1 on Friday afternoon, qualifying 20th and last for the sprint race. 'Mate, I'm really sorry,' he told his team as he made his way back to the pits. 'I honestly could not get the tyres down.'
Predictably, Lawson's struggles were put in an even harsher light by the brilliance of his team-mate, who after finishing second behind Lando Norris in Australia, went within a whisker of claiming sprint pole in China. Lawson admits it has been an eye-opener watching Verstappen up close. 'Just the way he gets up to speed and gets straight on it, you know?' he says. 'There's no delay, there's no warm-up.'
Perhaps a little forced humility is no bad thing on Lawson's part. The 23-year-old came across as pretty brash last year after replacing Daniel Ricciardo in Red Bull's junior team Racing Bulls with six races of the season remaining. Lawson proceeded to ruffle feathers by getting into spats with Perez and Fernando Alonso, even giving the former the finger after passing him in Mexico. 'I'm not here to make friends,' he reasoned at the time.
It was a punchy start, and to be honest the New Zealander's spikiness and sharp elbows probably won him the Red Bull seat, clearly impressing Christian Horner. But that same attitude may have lost him friends. Social media has not been kind to Lawson in the last week or two, with many delighting in his struggles, and championing Yuki Tsunoda as a possible mid-season replacement.
Far from brash, Lawson – who grew up in Pukekohe just south of Auckland as one of five children (three sisters and a brother) – proves to be easy and engaging company, honest about the bumpy start to his Red Bull career and happy to laugh at himself. He jokes about his new shorter hairstyle for this season, complete with peroxide highlights. 'And a perm!' interjects his press officer. Has he had a perm? 'No,' Lawson protests. Then a sheepish smile. 'OK, yes I have. But the feedback so far has been pretty positive.'
He can still do punchy. Asked about Zak Brown's observation last weekend that Red Bull promoted the wrong man – the inference being they ought to have backed Tsunoda – Lawson quips he 'couldn't care less' what the McLaren chief says. 'I think he's still hurt because I talked about his national anthem,' he adds, referring to a podcast he did last year in which he joked it was 'bulls---' that McLaren used the British national anthem given they were founded by a Kiwi Bruce McLaren.
Does he have some sympathy for Tsunoda at least? 'Honestly? No,' Lawson admits. 'You can't in this sport, and anyway if I look back over our career, I was team-mates with him in F3 and I beat him. In Euro Formula I was team-mates with him in New Zealand, and I beat him there. And then in F1 last season, I think honestly, if I look at all the times he got promoted instead of me in those early years, then no. He's had his time. Now it's my time.'
How long it will be Lawson's time will depend on how quickly he can get up to speed. He knows that. And if he didn't, Helmut Marko, Red Bull's irascible motorsport advisor, reminds him of it regularly. The Austrian, 81, is not known for his patience.
Marko made headlines last weekend when he described the debut performance of Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar as 'embarrassing' after he crashed on the formation lap in Melbourne.
Lawson knows what such blunt feedback feels like. But he credits Marko with giving him a thicker skin, recalling 6am phone calls back in the day in which he was told to pull his finger out.
'As much as it is hard, and it sucked at the time, to be able to deal with the pressure of driving in Formula One you need to have exposure to that,' he says. 'Otherwise you're just not ready for it when you're here.'
Lawson is going to have to call on all of his reserves of durability over the coming weeks. Marko said publicly in Australia that the Kiwi would have 'three to five races' to impress. Lawson will salvage what he can from this weekend, but admits that Suzuka in a couple of weeks time, a circuit with which he is more familiar from junior formulae, may be a better gauge.
'I've never lost confidence in me,' he says. 'I know this weekend's going to be pretty tough, on a new track. But every weekend I spend in this car, I'm learning.'
In the meantime, he may need a few more sound baths to deal with the stress. Does he really listen to rain when he sleeps? 'Yes, it's my most played thing on Spotify,' he smiles. 'I put it on when I go to bed. I hate it when it's deadly silent.'