Christian Horner believes that Red Bull will benefit in 2025 from having a clear hierarchy in their driver line-up. He argues that Ferrari will face difficulties in supporting both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull opt for a different approach
Most top teams in F1 have two drivers that are evenly matched.
Ferrari’s Hamilton-Leclerc combination is the latest example showing the demand amongst front-runners to have the strongest line-ups possible.
Even before signing Hamilton, Ferrari benefited from the services of a very competitive Carlos Sainz. McLaren also have a fierce inter-team rivalry, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris claiming several victories last season.
Ultimately, it was Red Bull’s extremely one-sided driver line-up that was costly in the constructors Championship.
Despite Verstappen winning the drivers title with a significant cushion, Sergio Perez finished almost 300 points behind the Dutchman.
This was a very different dynamic to Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes – whose driver pairings contributed similar points.
Considering that Red Bull struggled to unlock performance last year, they need someone to reinforce Max Verstappen more than ever.
Horner prefers to have a clear ‘lead driver’
Of course, their solution to this problem – to promote Liam Lawson – is a hugely controversial one. Putting a driver with such limited experience into the main team is a huge risk.
However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner sees things differently.
Despite missing out on last year’s constructors title, he believes that having a clear number 1 driver is the priority:
“Max Verstappen is the most valuable asset in Formula 1. He’s our lead driver,” he told talkSPORT.
“If you can get close to him, fantastic. But the reality is that the expectation is for Max to win.”
The Red Bull team principal believes that having two drivers competing against each other is a challenge:
“A team like Ferrari next year, for example, are going to have two drivers [Hamilton and Leclerc] that are going to be taking points off each other.
“Which horse do you back? You have to back both of them, but that sometimes becomes divisive within a team.”
Lawson under huge pressure
Ultimately, anyone who drives the same machinery as Max Verstappen faces a massive challenge. The Dutchman relentlessness in both qualifying and race makes him a nightmare to match – let alone outperform.
With that said, Red Bull had plenty of other options in the market.
Carlos Sainz was the biggest name available last season. The Milton Keynes squad chose not to sign him.
Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda – whose experience and speed continues to rise – was also a viable candidate.
For various reasons, whether justified or not, Red Bull lack faith in Tsunoda’s abilities to compete at the front.
In the context of the team’s last appointments alongside Verstappen, there is understandably scepticism about their Lawson promotion.
The 22-year-old is being put into an extremely high-stakes environment with very little experience.
Competing against the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and George Russell in your first full-season is hardly a forgiving introduction to F1.
Moreover, as Red Bull lose ground to other teams, Lawson is unlikely to benefit from the dominant machinery Sergio Perez had at his disposal.
Luckily for the Kiwi, Christian Horner does not expect him to replicate Verstappen’s output. Instead, the Austrian squad want Lawson to score consistent points as a ‘number 2’ driver, relying on Verstappen to score the majority of points.
Considering the calibre of drivers at the front, we will find out very quickly if Red Bull’s approach is the correct one.
