Liam Lawson’s push for a place in Red Bull’s senior ranks has received a glowing endorsement from Jos Verstappen, father of world champion Max.
The 22-year-old Kiwi has excelled on his return to Formula One, taking four points from his first three races in an RB car that’s for the most part been uncompetitive in 2024.
Speaking to Swedish outlet Viaplay, Jos Verstappen outlined he would have no issue seeing Lawson partner his son, despite concerns over a lack of experience.
“I think Lawson is doing very well,” Verstappen said. “It seems logical to me that he is ready to step up.
While in isolation, Lawson’s results have been impressive, the wider context of Red Bull’s driver pairing make the Kiwi’s efforts all the more significant.
Despite Max Verstappen now being odds-on to claim a fourth successive world title, Red Bull as a team are languishing third in the constructors championship.
And while harsh to put a team’s struggles down to one person, Red Bull’s woes can be put down to the performances of Perez.
The 34-year-old Mexican started the season in fantastic form, taking four podiums in his first five races. Those results saw Red Bull hand him a two-year contract extension, the first of which is guaranteed, while the second is a team option.
Since then, though, Perez’s form has dramatically fallen off a cliff. While Verstappen leads the championship with 393 points, Perez sits eighth with 151 - in the same car. And in the constructors championship, Red Bull have fallen from first to third, and trail McLaren by 49 points with three races left in the season.
Red Bull had a contractual option to sack Perez at the summer break earlier this year, but opted to retain him instead, as neither Lawson nor Daniel Ricciardo guaranteed to offer immediate improvement.
Since then, though, Lawson has successfully replaced Ricciardo at RB, and while he was only afforded the final six Grands Prix of 2024, it is widely understood that stint is an audition for the Kiwi to replace Perez from 2025.
The pair clashed on track in Mexico, in a battle that Lawson convincingly got the better of his opponent. Lawson did the same in Brazil, defending from Perez in horrendous weather at Interlagos.
But given Lawson has now beaten his competition in two of three races, in an inferior car, momentum is with the Kiwi.
The Formula One season resumes in late November with the Las Vegas Grand Prix, before concluding in Qatar and Abu Dhabi in December.
Alex Powell is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.