Red Bull boss Christian Horner has admitted that Liam Lawson‘s inexperience within Formula 1 creates the “danger” that his promotion could have occurred too soon.
Sergio Perez’s wretched campaign prompting him to lose his place has witnessed Lawson be handed the coveted spot alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull in 2025.
Lawson’s step up to the senior team comes despite having 11 F1 starts to his name across two separate stints with Red Bull’s sister side, now known as Racing Bulls.
However, Red Bull explained how Lawson’s strong mental resilience inspired it to select him over the more experienced Yuki Tsunoda, who will remain at Racing Bulls.
But while he’s optimistic that Lawson has the tools to excel at Red Bull, Horner has conceded that there’s a chance he could endure a similar fate to his predecessors.
Red Bull had gone down the external route with Perez as both Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon had struggled with premature moves in the nascent stages of their careers.
“Look, the danger is there’s a repeat of that,” Horner acknowledged to RACER.
“But I think that Liam is a different character. He’s a different personality to be able to deal with that pressure.
“I think he’s shown real resilience and strength of character with the opportunity that’s been provided to have to turn up and get on with it and deliver – and he’s done that.”
Lawson’s promotion unplanned
Horner has admitted Lawson being ushered into the main Red Bull setup at this stage was unplanned, but came as a reaction to Perez’s position becoming untenable.
“The plan initially wasn’t for that to be accelerated for this year,” he explained.
“Circumstances have dictated with Checo unfortunately not having a great season – that has been accelerated.
“But we believe where Liam is on the trajectory that he’s on, that will only improve.
“And he drives the car in a similar fashion to Max. He doesn’t shy away from having a very positive front end in the car.
“So I think in terms of driving characteristic, it will be easier for the cars to run more closely together in set-up.”
Verstappen status will ease pressure on Lawson
Horner is confident that Verstappen’s status now as a multiple-time F1 champion will avoid Lawson being subdued to the pressure that those before him experienced.
“Daniel [Ricciardo] and Max were a strong pairing. We then had two juniors that struggled,” he acknowledged.
“And that’s why obviously Checo then stepped into the car for the ’21 season and coped with the pressures of that well.
“I think the other factor that we’re focused very hard on is making sure that we’re creating a wider operating window with RB21 than RB20’s very narrow, very peaky performance window.
“So for us, to create a broader window will hopefully only help Liam find a more, perhaps forgiving car than RB20 could be on occasion.
“I think one of the things we’ll be looking to protect Liam from is expectation.
“Of course, when Alex and Pierre were with the team, Max wasn’t a four-time World Champion. He hadn’t won a World Championship at that point.
“We have a very clear positioning in the team with where Max is at in his career and what we need from the second driver.”
READ MORE – What Liam Lawson thinks about going up against Max Verstappen at Red Bull
