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Is Verstappen a real team player though? Answer: 'He's a friendly guy'
Is Max Verstappen not a team player? Liam Lawson disagrees with that assumption, he says to media on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix.
It has been several years now since Max Verstappen refused to let his teammate go through during the Brazilian Grand Prix. After a clear and resounding 'no', Sergio Perez, as incensed as he was afterwards, simply had to come to terms with what were then the state of affairs in Red Bull Racing. Of course, media from all over began reporting that the Dutchman was not a 'good teammate'.
Lawson was a big fan of Verstappen
Perez has since left; Liam Lawson is his successor. The New Zealander will experience this year whether or not Verstappen is indeed a team player. Asked about the matter during a media session in Melbourne (where GPblog was also present), Lawson replied: "He's a nice guy."
An evasive answer? Lawson later added. "No. But he is honestly, and he always has been to me, I think. Even from when I was a reserve, he's always been open to talking. I think even in the early days when I was [in] F3, F2 and I I was just coming into the sport, and I probably idolized him a little bit, and he knew that it would be cool for him to talk to me, he would come and talk to me."
"Over the years, even when I came into Formula One as a reserve coming in to replace Daniel, coming at the end of last year, if I had a question, he was always open to talk about it. And, he's always been very relaxed like that," Lawson said.
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica.
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