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Marko tells Lawson: 'You shouldn't be doing that against Verstappen'
- Ludo van Denderen
A four-time world champion and a driver with barely 11 Grands Prix to his name. It comes as no surprise that Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing's advisor, sees Max Verstappen as the big favourite within his team next season. As a result, the Austrian does not even want Liam Lawson to try to beat Verstappen internally.
After Sergio Perez departed the Austrian team after a terrible 2024 season, it was a decision between Racing Bulls drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson. The decision was made, and it was the latter who replaced the Mexican, and Marko says there is a clear reason for that: "Liam Lawson is mentally the strongest of our juniors, although he has little Grand Prix experience.
"But it's important to accept alongside Max that you can't beat him. No one can do that. And in terms of quality, despite his limited Grand Prix experience, Liam has the most potential to develop further," Marko stated in conversation with sport.de.
However, the team's external advisor does expect Lawson to be within three-tenths of a second of the Dutchman in both qualifying and racing and structurally pick up points for the championship.
Marko saw predecessors make this mistake
"He is in the team with the best Formula 1 driver and should not try - as many colleagues did - to go looking for it in technology, with absurd set-ups or in terms of strategy. One should accept that he [Verstappen] is the best and not try to beat him. That has gone wrong with all his colleagues."
In the end, it is quite logical that Verstappen is also the absolute number one within Red Bull Racing in 2025. The Austrian sees it as an advantage that the proportions are clear: "At Ferrari - and it remains to be seen whether Kimi [Antonelli] immediately asserts himself at Mercedes - it is clear that it will be a battle between Charles [Leclerc] and Lewis [Hamilton]. And I don't think they will be satisfied with a number two role."
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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