Liam Lawson Reveals Christian Horner's Dramatic Welcome Message To Red Bull - 'Classic One Liner'

Saajan Jogia | Dec 22, 2024

Nov 20, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Visa Cash App RB driver Liam Lawson (30) during media availabilities at Las Vegas Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

VCARB driver Liam Lawson, who has been promoted to the Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen has revealed the dramatic way in which Red Bull team principal Christian Horner broke the news of his promotion earlier this week through a "classic one-liner." Lawson was being assessed alongside his teammate Yuki Tsunoda for the promotion, which eventually came his way after Red Bull announced it was parting ways with Sergio Perez.

Lawson made it to Red Bull's Formula 1 sister team after Daniel Ricciardo was ousted following the Singapore Grand Prix for underperformance. Now though, he will find himself racing alongside the four-time world champion in 2025. Lawson's promotion was made public a few hours after Red Bull announced Perez's exit. The Kiwi driver explained how the Red Bull team boss called him on the phone to inform him of his appointment. Speaking on the Talking Bull podcast, Lawson said:

“I knew that this has been on the cards for a change.

“Obviously, nothing was planned or set in stone or anything like that and it’s all performance based, as it always is.

“They had the meeting and Christian was kind enough to send me a text, just a heads up, that the meeting was good.

“And then he called me and basically gave me the news. And he gave me the classic one liner: ‘Welcome to Red Bull Racing.’

“It was very exciting to hear over the phone, so it was cool.”

Horner explained that while Tsunoda showed impressive performance during the Abu Dhabi post-season test, Lawson's ability to perform consistently under pressure ultimately set him apart. He told ESPN:

"It was very, very tight between the two of them. I mean, Yuki is a very fast driver. He's got three or four seasons of experience now. He did a very good job in the tire test for us in Abu Dhabi where the engineers were impressed with how he performed.

"With Liam, when you look and go into the analytics of his race, pace was slightly better in the races that he did. His qualifying pace was very tight with Yuki, and you've got to assume that the potential with Liam having only done 11 grand prix, is he's only going to get better and stronger. He's shown real mental resilience and toughness.

"A couple of things have stood out with me with Liam - how versatile he is," Horner said. "You put him into a situation, he gets on with it. If you remember his debut in Zandvoort after Daniel broke his fingers, he was racing against Max on his out lap.

"He's got that kind of gritty racer mentality. He did a year in the DTM where he adjusted to driving a Ferrari GT car incredibly quickly alongside Alex Albon and generally had the upper hand. And again, his racecraft has been really one of his key strengths. So he's not afraid to go wheel-to-wheel and even rub wheels where necessary. So I think he's going to do a great job for us."