Liam Lawson is Max Verstappen’s new team-mate for 2025 (Image: Getty)
has echoed the sentiment of , suggesting that partnering with reigning world champion for the 2025 season is the best possible scenario, given the personal development that it could generate.
Verstappen has developed a reputation as the nightmare F1 team-mate in recent years. After matching up well against respected colleagues and during the early stages of his glittering F1 career, the Dutchman became the top dog at .
Since then, he has proven nigh-on untouchable, dominating , and in the process. All three drivers left having suffered a severe reputational hit, but Lawson is confident he can avoid the same fate.
In fact, the New Zealander has hatched a plan to use Verstappen’s prowess to his advantage in 2025. “To be honest, I’m looking forward to it the most because Max is the best in the world in our sport at the moment,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.
“Every free practice session we do, I will have insight into his data. I will see exactly what he does and how he does it. Of course, it will be very difficult to keep up with him, but in terms of my development, there is no one better to learn from.”
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George Russell wanted to team up with Max Verstappen at Mercedes (Image: Getty)
These comments echo Russell’s attitude when Verstappen was linked with a move to during the early stages of the 2024 season. They are also a good sign that Lawson’s head is in the right place heading into what will likely be a defining year for his fledgling F1 career.
“I’d be all for it,” Russell said when asked about teaming up with Verstappen. “You know, coming into in 2022 off the back of Lewis’s legendary years and victories, that was a huge task for anybody jumping into a team where he’s been for so long.
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“I believe in myself, and you need to go up against the best in the same machinery and show what you have got, so I feel that having Lewis as my team-mate for the past three years… He’s been a hell of a team-mate, such a great driver.
“And we push each other every single week, and I think it’s fair to say that, so I will welcome Max, I want to go up against the best. Everybody wants to prove what they’ve got, so make it happen.”