2024 Formula 1 driver rankings #16: Lawson · RaceFans

It’s entirely understandable that many questioned Red Bull’s decision to place their faith in Liam Lawson instead of Yuki Tsunoda when it came to choosing their second driver for the upcoming season. After all, Tsunoda’s results during their brief spell as team mates were quantifiably better, which is why Lawson appears lower down our ranking.

But it’s not hard to see why, on the strength of their performances during 2024, Red Bull perceived more potential in Lawson. Given his relative lack of experience (11 grand prix starts to Tsunoda’s 87 by the end of the season), he showed impressive pace on his second spell in F1 and real mettle in wheel-to-wheel combat.

Lawson came out of the blocks strongly when he reappeared as Tsunoda’s team mate at the United States Grand Prix. Despite not having contested a race in any category for almost a year, and having to start on the back row in the grand prix due to a power unit change, Lawson made a superb getaway and managed his hard tyres superbly over the first stint to vault into the points-scoring places.

He repeated that result in Brazil, one place behind Tsunoda, both acquitting themselves well in the demanding wet weather conditions. This was as good as it got for Lawson in his half-dozen grands prix, most of which took place on tracks he hadn’t previously raced at.

Although he was invariably out-qualified by Tsunoda, the gap was razor-thin on several occasions. But what seemed to impress Red Bull most was Lawson’s zeal for combat.

Several of his more experienced rivals took exception to this. Fernando Alonso was thoroughly unimpressed with Lawson after the Austin sprint race, though his displeasure seemed to be triggered by the RB driver’s failure to keep Esteban Ocon’s Alpine behind having rebuffed the Aston Martin so thoroughly.

But the driver Lawson truly infuriated, even before he nabbed his Red Bull drive, was Sergio Perez. Lawson thoroughly showed up the driver whose place he has taken when they crossed swords, most notably in Perez’s backyard, where the Red Bull driver raged impotently against Lawson’s uncompromising and effective defence. After that it was little surprise to see Lawson get the call from the top team.

RaceFans’ driver rankings are based partly on the scores awarded to drivers for their performances in each round as well as other factors.

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