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Lawson grateful for high pressure Red Bull: 'Marko helped a lot'
After just having driven 11 Grands Prix in F1, Liam Lawson will become Max Verstappen's teammate in the 2025 season, as he was given the opportunity by Red Bull Racing to replace Sergio Perez. When talking about how he arrived to this step in his career, the driver was hugely grateful to Helmut Marko, who helped him over several years.
Lawson: 'Marko's calls helped a lot'
A key moment in Lawson's career was when he had the chance to join the Red Bull Junior Team. After he competed in the German F4 championship, where he finished second, he had to return to New Zealand, given he had no offers at the time. Because of not having a wealthy background, the Red Bull offer changed his career. "When I became a junior, coming here at the time, felt like being an F1 driver. It’s like being in Mission Control at NASA," he the youngster told The Times.
"I came back to New Zealand and did the Toyota Racing Series (TRS). We had no money, no plans for 2019, I couldn’t afford to do F3. I knew that it was my last shot. The first weekend after the race, I had a contract from Red Bull sent from Helmut," Lawson continued.
What helped Lawson improve a lot was namely the phone calls from Red Bull's external advisor, Helmut Marko. The driver from New Zealand explained how that additional help could prepare him for the future as well, when he will have Max Verstappen as his teammate.
"Probably the best thing for me was the last five years being a Red Bull Junior, the phone calls from Helmut at 7 AM, putting the pressure on. The threat of losing your career at 16, if you don’t perform in this next race — that’s really helped build me for Formula 1, because going into Red Bull against Max, there’s a load of pressure," the Red Bull driver concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder