Villeneuve: Hopefully Lawson will be able to press Max.

      Jacques Villeneuve believes that Liam Lawson does not intend to put up with the status of the number two driver in the team Red Bull Racing, although its unconditional leader is Max Verstappen. Despite the fact that the 22-year-old New Zealander has so far spent only 11 races in Formula 1, in 2025, he became the new partner of the four-time world champion.

      Christian Horner, head of Red Bull Racing, has repeatedly noted such a quality Lawson, as psychological resilience, which should help him to avoid the fate of Pierre Gasly, Alex Elbon, and now also Sergio Perez. All these racers at different times were partners of Max, but did not withstand competition with the Dutchman. "Lawson got a great chance, before him opens up good opportunities, but we have already seen that for racers who were transferred to the main team Red Bull, it very quickly ended in collapse - argued the world champion of 1997 in an interview with the podcast The Action Network. - We'll see how strong he is psychologically and how good he really is, we don't know that yet. I mean, his season in F2, in the Japanese Super Formula series, or his races at RB with Yuki Tsunoda as his teammate, can't be considered a benchmark. Lawson is contractually obligated to help Verstappen, but he doesn't think so. He thinks he was brought in to replace Max in the future, so he will try to show his aggressiveness and speed. Hopefully, he will be able to press Max and make Verstappen pilot even better. Then it will contribute to the progress of the team. If the Red Bull car will not allow to fight for victories, and if the team will not win the championship, then it should take at least 2nd place. Then a good result for Lawson can be considered if at the end of the season he will be one or two lines below Verstappen. But his result should not be worse than that level..."