Lawson on becoming a Red Bull driver: 'It is a lifelong dream'
F1 News
The Red Bull Racing second seat saga is fianlly all finished. after the news broke on Wednesday evening that Sergio Perez and the Austrian tesm and mutually agreed to part ways before the 2025 season, the offical news of his replacement came just on Thursday morning. Liam Lawson will now be the latest teammate to Max Verstappen, with the former VCATB driver now making the step up to Red Bull for 2025.
Lawson made his debut for then-Alpha Tauri at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix as he replaced an injured Daniel Ricciardo, scoring his first points just a race weekend later at the Singapore Grand Prix to highlight his immense talent. He then became the reserve driver for both Red Bull and the sister VCARB team in 2024, but before the United States Grand Prix, he officially replaced Ricciardo for the remainder of the season. Now, the 22-year-old will continue his F1 journey at Red Bull.
As soon as the 2024 season ended, there was lots of speculation surrounding the future of New Zealander at Red Bull, as he was the favourite to replace Sergio Perez at the Austrian team. The Mexican did have two more years on his contract after it was extended during the 2024 season, but some very poor results, both in qualifying and in the race, resulted in his departure. There was talk as to which VCARB driver would take Perez's place, but many signs pointed towards Lawson instead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Lawson "can't wait to get going" at Red Bull
In the Red Bull Racing press release announcing the signing of Lawson to the Austria team, the New Zealander could not contain his excitement: "To be announced as an Oracle Red Bull Racing Driver is a lifelong dream for me, this is something I’ve wanted and worked towards since I was eight years old. It’s been an incredible journey so far."
"I want to say a massive thank you to the whole team at VCARB for their support, the last six races have played a huge part in my preparation for this next step. I also want to thank, Christian, Helmut and the whole Red Bull family for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. I am super excited to work alongside Max and learn from a World Champion, I have no doubt I will learn from his expertise. I can’t wait to get going!”, concluded Lawson.
Lawson will make his season debut for Red Bull at the Australian Grand Prix, which marks the start of the 2025 season on 16 March.
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