Herbert: 'Lawson has not proved 100 per cent that he is worthy of his seat'

Former F1 driver and current FIA steward Johnny Herbert does not think Liam Lawson has "proved 100 percent that he is worthy of the Red Bull seat." Coming into the 2025 Formula 1 season, the New Zealander is the replacement for Sergio Perez, who left the Austrian team after a disappointing season. After just 11 Grands Prix under his belt, Lawson is making the big move to be Max Verstappen's teammate, and Herbert addressed the decision to put Lawson alongside the Dutchman.

Lawson came into F1 for the first time as a replacement for the then-injured Daniel Ricciardo at the Dutch Grand Prix, filling in for five races and scoring some impressive points at the Singapore Grand Prix. Then, in 2024, the New Zealander replaced the Australian for good for the final six Grands Prix, and again showed some brilliant pace, including a P9 on his first race back at the United States Grand Prix.

However, with not even a full F1 season under his belt, there has been a lot of talk as to whether it is too early for Lawson to be involved with Red Bull, and former Sky Sports pundit Herbert does not even think it was a totally deserved move for the 22-year-old: "I don’t think Liam Lawson has proven himself 100 per cent worthy of the Red Bull seat because, in my old ways, it’s always about how you do against your teammates and in his time at RB, he didn’t blow away Yuki Tsunoda," Herbert explained in an interview with Casinoutanspelpaus.io.

Can Lawson keep up with Verstappen?

Tsunoda did have a super year with Racing Bulls in 2024, but even that was not enough to catch the eye of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, keeping him at the sister team for another year while promoting Lawson. However, for the New Zealander, his work will be cut out trying to keep up with Verstappen.

Verstappen earned his fourth consecutive world title in 2024, and ever since moving to Red Bull, he has completely blown away his teammates and seen them fall by the wayside. It will be quite a challenge for Lawson to keep up with the Dutchman, and Herbert does not know whether that is achievable for Lawson. But he does explain what the 23-year-old talent needs to do as a part of the Austrian team alongside Verstappen.

"Lawson has to come out of the blocks quickly because as soon as Verstappen feels he’s in control of the on-track activities, the speed that he has, but also then going down to the teeth, he’s going to start to struggle and the mental battles will start to come into play. Has he got the ingredients to race up against Verstappen? I think he has. But now we’ve just got to see it, I suppose. You’ve got to prove it. It’s always that. You’re always under pressure to prove," Herbert concluded.

This article was created in collaboration with Estéban den Toom

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