Lawson helped Verstappen out once before: 'Then I lent him shoes'
Red Bull Content Pool
F1 News
- Corwin Kunst
Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen will soon work closely together as they try to give Red Bull Racing the constructors' title in 2025. In the process, the New Zealander will also have to help the Dutchman to victories, but it would not be the first time Verstappen has come to Lawson's aid, with the 22-year-old doing the same in 2021.
That happened at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Lawson was there as a test and reserve driver and was then called in to lend his shoes to Verstappen. The New Zealander is quoted by Marca: "I had been at the hotel for a while and returned to the track between sessions. My boss, Oli, sent me a picture and said: 'I just gave your shoes to Red Bull, Verstappen needs them because you are the only one with the same shoe size'."
By 'Oli', Lawson is referring to Olivier Helvig, who was involved in the management of the Red Bull Junior Team at the time. The replacement of Sergio Perez for next season continued on by saying, "It's a bit of a shame I didn't give him nice shoes. They were simple shoes, and he used them for the rest of the weekend. My shoes reached Formula 1 before I did."
However, Lawson's shoes did not bring much luck. The Dutchman did not reach the finish line in the race because of a puncture down the start/finish straight, with his Pirelli tyre suddenly failing and bringing an early end to Verstappen's race.
Verstappen over new shoes
Earlier in the weekend, the Red Bull driver had also commented to Ziggo Sport about using Lawson's shoes: "They [Red Bull] brought new shoes because I use new shoes almost every race. The shoes were size 44 [size 9.5], while I am size 41.5 [size 7.5]. My old shoes were also gone, so I had no shoes at all. During the first free practice, I borrowed Sergio's shoes, but they were half a size smaller, so they were too tight. Then I got shoes from Lawson because he has the same size shoes as me!"
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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