Red Bull have the ‘real deal’ in the ‘wrong car’, claims Jordan
Liam Lawson gave Sergio Perez the bird as he overtook him in Mexico
Eddie Jordan believes Liam Lawson has done enough in his two races back in F1 to show that he’s in the “wrong car” and should replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull.
Having seen off Daniel Ricciardo’s challenge for his Red Bull race seat, the Aussie dropped after the Singapore Grand Prix, Perez is facing a new threat in Lawson who was brought in for a six-race audition.
Is Liam Lawson is the real deal? Eddie Jordan says yes
Although initially it was thought the New Zealander was auditioning for a 2025 VCARB race seat, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner opened the door to Red Bull when he said the decision to put Lawson in the car “goes beyond VCARB, it encompasses Red Bull Racing”.
That led to suggestions that should Lawson perform well enough, he could be the one to partner Max Verstappen next season and VCARB would then bring in one of Red Bull’s juniors or even Franco Colapinto. Perez would be out in the cold.
So far the auditions are playing out in Lawson’s favour.
The 22-year-old recovered from an engine penalty to score points in Austin and outqualified Perez at the Mexican Grand Prix. He did somewhat blot his copybook by tangling with the Mexican driver as Perez caught up to the back of his VCARB, while a middle finger to highlight his feelings about Perez’s defending later in the race saw Lawson have to apologise.
However, David Coulthard, speaking with Jordan in the latest Formula for Success podcast, thought it showed character from the 2025 hopeful.
“Another lacklustre performance from Checo Perez,” declared the former Red Bull driver. “Out of position in qualifying, you’re there on the back foot. We’ve got to touch on him and his little battle with Lawson.
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“Much as we shouldn’t condone bad behaviour [the middle finger] in the sporting environment, it was kind of fun to see that Liam is absolutely his own man, and he’s not really intimidated by anyone.
“He obviously felt that he couldn’t send him a little note, couldn’t talk to him at that point so a hand gesture.
“I’ve been guilty of it in the past with Michael [Schumacher] in Magny-Cours, I did apologise afterwards to all the kids that were watching and any of the parents who offended.”
Called a “good boy” by Jordan for doing that, the Scot continued: “Well you’ve got to these days as people are offended by all sorts of things.
“What do you think of that? What do you think for Checo? Is the writing on the wall? And what do you think of Lawson? If he was in your car, would you be like, ‘okay, Liam, yeah, well done, you’re fighting your corner’?”
Jordan was clear in his thoughts on Lawson, adamant he should replace Perez in the Red Bull.
“Liam Lawson is out of position, he’s in the wrong car,” he said. “He should be in the full Red Bull car. And I think we would see fireworks.
“I’ve seen enough of him in the last couple of races to believe that he is the real deal.
“Surely Red Bull have to make a decision. David, you know the people inside Red Bull better than anyone. Better than anyone!
“You must know because you used to hound me looking for information about Adrian [Newey], I’m hounding you now. Do you know, is Liam going to be the team-mate for Max next year? That’s the question.”
Clarifying that he’s not involved with the race team, he only does promotions, Coulthard said: “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but all I can say is right now the performance from both cars isn’t there, and that has to be a real concern.
“And therefore, if it continues until the end of the season, you’ve just logically got to expect change.”
Read next: Max Verstappen is ‘Michael Schumacher in disguise’ in won’t ‘change at all’ verdict
