Liam Lawson is the 'punk' F1 driver Red Bull – and F1 – needs

“Too much action, maybe, from Lawson, who has six races to prove things,” he lectured from afar. “I don’t think it’s the best way, but it’s his career at stake and not mine.”

Alonso had been seen having a go at Lawson in the pitlane immediately after the race, the Kiwi revealing the Aston Martin driver had told him he would “screw” the RB next time on track.

“I understand he had a pretty horrible race so I can understand why he’s upset,” Lawson commented. “But if I did anything wrong I’d have got a penalty.”

Pretty unrepentant from the Kiwi – and it got a big thumbs up from Red Bull boss Horner too.

“When you’re upsetting Fernando, you know that you’re doing something right,” the delighted principal said. “He [Lawson] is a tough, hard racer. I thought he looked like a veteran, to be honest with you.”

One round later and Lawson was at it again, this time clashing with Red Bull colleague Sergio Perez.

The Mexican had a horrific qualifying at his home race starting 18th. Trying to recover, on lap 10 he came across Lawson and made a late dive on the Kiwi at the chicane, trying to squeeze him off track.

Having none of it, Lawson simply pushed his way back onto the circuit, shards of carbon fibre flying as the pair collided.

His Red Bull wounded, Perez limped home 17th and last in Mexico City. Just to rub it in later, Lawson swore at his colleague as he overtook him later, giving him the middle finger from the cockpit.

After echoing the words of Alonso on the radio, Perez continued to rage after the race too.

“He took the whole side of the car off, but I don’t think it’s his fault because he doesn’t get any penalty,” the Mexican said sarcastically.

“He did the same to Fernando [Alonso] last weekend, he did the same to Franco [Colapinto] at the end of the race and no penalty, so maybe depends who you are [in terms of] the penalty you get.”

“I’m just focused on having the best possible race each time I get in the car,” retorted Lawson when questioned on the incident.

“Honestly, that’s all I’m trying to do at the moment. Maybe I’m aggressive, but I’m here for one reason.

“Obviously my goal is not to go out and make enemies of anybody. I’m not trying to cause any issues or anything like that. At the same time, I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to win – that’s what I’m focused on doing.”

However, all of this seemed to delight Horner. Rather than viewed as a naïve display of inexperience, the Red Bull boss clearly saw it as raw youthful aggression – that which can be channelled into on-track results. It’s the kind of energy that was sorely lacking from Perez in 2024. As Lawson highlighted after Austin, he didn’t get a penalty. Racing on the edge, just how Red Bull likes it.

In a classic docu-drama set-piece during the Netflix episode concerning the fight for the Red Bull seat, Horner says he’s about to lay down some ground rules with Lawson about how the team wants its drivers to go racing in the Mexican GP aftermath, before the scene suddenly pivots as the pair shake hands and the Kiwi is announced as the squad’s new driver for 2025, in place of Perez.

Perhaps this is exactly how the team wants its drivers to race? More of this please, apparently.

“The most compelling candidate for us to replace Perez is Liam Lawson,” says Horner upon the DtS announcement. “Liam demonstrated that he’s a hard and gritty racer.”

More than any driver that’s come since, Lawson is the closest Red Bull’s come to finding a similar driver in terms of pure attitude to Verstappen. It’s a never-say-die approach, he simply doesn’t care what others think.

We also see this in Drive to Survive earlier, during an earlier scene when Lawson is still a reserve driver. He complains, almost like an ungrateful teenager, to team management that he wants to be driving.

“I need to drive. I’m going crazy not driving,” he says before adding later: “I can’t take this much longer. Just hanging around, watching racing, I’m losing my mind mate.”

It makes a change from the usual polite grand prix candidates, just happy to be there. While others temper their aggression, he’s tempering respect and patience.

Now he’s got his wish at one of F1’s biggest teams. The New Zealander will make his debut race at the closest thing he’s got to a home event, this weekend’s Australian GP.

Can he match Verstappen in terms of results? It remains to be seen. In any regard though, the world championship could be well set for fireworks again, with a new fiery hero.