“Lawson is mentally the strongest of our juniors”

After several months of hesitation and long days of decision-making, it was Liam Lawson who finally took Sergio Pérez's place at Red Bull for the 2025 season. The New Zealander was in competition with his teammate at Racing Bulls , Yuki Tsunoda, who will therefore begin his fifth year in the sister team of the Red Bull.

Helmut Marko, Red Bull's motorsport consultant and head of its young driver academy, explained the choice to prefer Lawson over Tsunoda. “In terms of speed, Tsunoda is definitely the faster of the two at the moment”the Austrian told Sport.de. “[Mais] “He doesn't have the consistency required and he continues to make mistakes.”

Marko admitted that Red Bull was concerned that the Japanese “slowed down and lost his composure” when he got angry. “His angry outbursts have improved considerably, but it’s still a problem.”he added. “He’s losing control.”

In addition, the main issue in this Red Bull seat is in fact the other driver, Max Verstappen, renowned for crushing most of his teammates without flinching. A challenge that the Austrian team is not sure Tsunoda will succeed in meeting.

“We think it would cause significant emotional difficulty for Tsunoda, if he realized alongside Max that he couldn't beat him, or maybe even come close, and things didn't go his way. imagined it”he explained.

Lawson seems more capable of meeting this challenge according to the consultant: “Liam Lawson is mentally the strongest of our juniors. We also see great potential for progression due to his limited Grand Prix experience. Nobody can beat [Verstappen]. And I think Liam has that mental toughness [d’accepter de ne pas pouvoir battre Verstappen].”

Marko explained that he would be satisfied if Lawson managed to get even three tenths closer to the four-time world champion in 2025. “This should be enough to score points for the constructors’ world championship”he estimated. “You have to accept that he is the best and see if you can get close to him or how far you can go. But you shouldn't go in there wanting to beat him. That's what happened with all his teammates.”

Lawson's run in the lower categories has demonstrated his strengths according to the Austrian, notably in 2021 when he lost the DTM championship in the last race: “There were ups and downs during the season, but he never gave up.”.

Marko also mentions the New Zealander's F2 season, which he spent alongside Logan Sargeant at Carlin. “Il [Sargeant] suddenly got a new engine when it became clear he was going to drive in Formula 1”he commented. “From that point on, the engine was three to five tenths faster on the straights, depending on the circuit. Knowing there was nothing we could do about it, he didn't give up and kept fighting Others would have despaired, saying to themselves: 'I don't have a chance anyway.'

An eviction of “several million”

As for Sergio Pérez, we knew he was in the hot seat from the season finale in Abu Dhabi, which closed a more than complicated campaign for the Mexican. It was finally in mid-December that the two parties announced their separation, after negotiations which led to the premature end of the contract between them. A commitment which had nevertheless been renewed in 2024.

While Red Bull refused to reveal the cost of terminating Pérez's contract, Helmut Marko admitted it was inevitably high: “Given the contract, this is an agreement that is acceptable to both parties.” When asked whether the breakup had cost “several million”Marko finally admitted: “We are talking about Formula 1 here, yes!”

Despite his poor results, Marko admitted that Perez was confident he could return to form as the season progressed: “He always hoped to get back to his old form. After all, he won five Grands Prix with us and was runner-up. He did not regain this form and it was judged that, in this environment, there would be no comeback either and that it was better to say goodbye. This also opens up many possibilities for the future.”

With Norman Fischer