Liam Lawson: Red Bull’s chance of promotion was ‘hard to ignore’

Liam Lawson admitted he found it difficult to ignore the obvious prospect of Red Bull advancing in the final races of 2024.

Lawson has been confirmed as Sergio Perez’s successor in 2025.

News of Perez’s departure and Lawson’s likely promotion gained momentum in the final weeks of the year.

“It was tough…Abu Dhabi, I just knew what was going on,” Lawson told ESPN.

“I tried to brush it off as much as I could, but obviously it’s a huge opportunity and I knew it was right there and obviously I wanted it so much that it was hard not to think about it.”

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Lawson said it was never specifically mentioned that he would get the seat, although it appeared more likely in the final weeks of the season.

“I knew the opportunity was there and I knew it looked like it was going to happen towards the end of this year. I also knew that in a way it was an audition for the Red Bull position, obviously.” The team lost the designers at this point and wanted to change something.

“It wasn’t specifically about: ‘You do this job and get a Red Bull place. Whenever you’re on the sister team, you know you’re applying for a Red Bull spot in the future. So I knew you were coming in, that happened, but to be honest I didn’t expect it to happen towards the end of the year. This was probably more of a new thing.

The New Zealander will look to break Red Bull’s recent trend of having teammates who are in top form alongside Max Verstappen. Perez’s departure comes after Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon struggled alongside the Dutchman in recent seasons.

“It’s probably the most difficult place,” admits Lawson. “But it also brings with it the most opportunities. He’s obviously the best in the world right now, so there’s no one better to learn from.”

There is no one better to be by his side. Every session I do, I can basically look at all of his data and see exactly how he’s doing it. So it’s a great opportunity. As much as I know it will be extremely hard, there is no one better to learn from.”