Liam Lawson: How he realized how good Verstappen really is

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Many have already experienced that Max Verstappen can accomplish things in Formula 1 that hardly any other driver can. Both opponents and teammates have already ruined several careers with his skills and will continue to crush his teammate Yuki Tsunoda in 2025.

The Japanese driver is completely out of the running and hasn't been able to beat Verstappen in either qualifying or the race. Before Tsunoda , Liam Lawson was allowed to try his luck at Red Bull, but was removed from the cockpit after just two unsuccessful races and demoted to Racing Bulls.

Lawson discovered Verstappen's abilities quite early on. His first outing as a Grand Prix driver at Zandvoort two years ago was particularly formative for him. When Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand in a practice accident, Lawson had to step in at short notice.

Aha moment on first assignment as a regular driver

"I'll never forget: In the third practice session, my first ever session in the car, I was just struggling to feel comfortable," the New Zealander told Sky . Rain had made things even more difficult.

Before the final banked corner, Lawson let Verstappen pass. "I watched as he let the car slide onto the curb on the exit. And when I saw that, I just thought: I'm miles away from drifting that easily," he says.

Just one lap later, the AlphaTauri driver spun on the curb and slid down the track, resulting in a red flag and his early end to practice.

"But you get there eventually, I think," he continues. "He's been here a long time, and I don't know if the car is built around him or whatever—but he's just at a point where he's completely at peace with the car. And maybe he'll just be able to settle in much faster."

Of course, that doesn't make the task any easier for someone like Yuki Tsunoda, who was thrown into the deep end in the middle of the season and is now fighting to avoid going under completely.

His bitter record: just nine points in 13 races, which currently puts him in 19th place in the overall standings - only ahead of the two part-time Alpine drivers Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto .

Why Lawson has only limited compassion

Does Lawson sympathize with his successor in such a situation? After all, he's been in that situation himself. "Of course, I sympathize with a driver struggling in such a situation, because this sport is extremely difficult. It's never nice to see someone suffering in such an environment," he says.

But at the same time, he finds it difficult to really identify with it one-to-one, "because I didn't even have the chance to drive a race on a track I already knew."

Lawson was only given two races by Red Bull, but he'd never raced in Melbourne or Shanghai before. "I think I was perhaps naive to think I'd get enough time to settle in," Lawson said. "Because that was actually the approach I went into it with."