09/08/2025 20:00
Liam Lawson has revealed his regret at not getting more time to
learn from Max Verstappen at Red Bull, following his demotion after
just two races this season. Lawson was chosen as Sergio Perez's
replacement ahead of the current campaign, following a run of good
performances since replacing Daniel Ricciardo in the sister team
for the final rounds in 2024. Many expected the New Zealander to
start well for the Milton Keynes-based outfit; however, he fell
into the second Red Bull seat trap. Like those before him in the
second Red Bull seat, Lawson struggled to quickly adjust to the
team's car but also faced bad luck in Australia and China, before
returning to Racing Bulls. He crashed out in the mixed conditions
season-opener, before finishing 12th in the Chinese Grand Prix.
Lawson's struggles continued in his first races back with the
sister team, although he has found great form in recent grands
prix. Red Bull has received much criticism for its handling of
Lawson and not giving the 23-year-old more time, the latter
impacting how much he was able to learn from Verstappen. Asked in
an exclusive RacingNews365 interview if he had time to learn
anything from the four-time world champion, Lawson said: "I was
very excited. I was very excited to have that opportunity to
basically see everything that he was doing in detail. "Because I
think the thing is, to be honest, we have so much data shared
across teams at the moment. "It's very simple data, but as a
driver, it's the main stuff that we're looking at, speed traces,
you know, where somebody's braking, throttle places, gears, things
like that that we use. "We actually can see across the grid what
people are doing. So I already compare with Max a lot to see how
he's approaching corners and things like that. "So it was the
detailed stuff that you wouldn't get across teams that I was
excited to have, but in two weekends, it's very hard to take too
much from that."
