Max Verstappen's new teammate 'faster and more aggressive than Alex Albon' feels 10x F1 winner

10x F1 race winner Gerhard Berger feels Max Verstappen's new teammate Liam Lawson is faster and more aggressive than Alex Albon, a driver who was at Red Bull in 2020. Ever since Daniel Ricciardo decided it was time to move on from the Austrian team, the second seat has been a revolving door involving multiple drivers being partnered alongside the Dutchman.

At the end of 2024, Sergio Perez was dropped and replaced by Liam Lawson, who's only done a handful of races in 2023 and 2024 but impressed the team enough to give him a shot.

Talking about the Kiwi partnering Max Verstappen at Red Bull, Gerhard Berger, who'd seen Lawson impress and almost win the DTM title in 2021, told AMuS that while he would have preferred Carlos Sainz for the experience, Lawson is quite clearly a better version of Albon.

"There's probably no one who can really give him steam. But I would definitely have taken Carlos Sainz. Although I don't think it's bad that they put Lawson next to Max, even though it might have been better for the young lad to gain more experience at Toro Rosso first."

He added,

"I already liked Lawson in the DTM. He was faster and more aggressive than Albon, and Albon is doing a good job at Williams. That's why I recommended that Helmut [Marko] take a look at it. I think Verstappen and Lawson can be a good pairing."

Once Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull in 2018, the first replacement was Pierre Gasly in 2019. The French driver lasted half a season before the Austrian team lost faith in him and replaced him with Alex Albon, whose 18-month stint at Red Bull saw him get dominated by Max Verstappen.

The mental toll on Albon was evident, who was soon replaced by Sergio Perez in 2021. While the Mexican stayed alongside Max Verstappen for four years, the driver's shortcomings were arguably papered over by the car, which was the class of the field. In 2024, when the car started underperforming, the large gulf became an issue.

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"Max Verstappen is the best driver, no question about it": Gerhard Berger

Discussing the 2025 F1 grid, Gerhard Berger was quite complimentary of Max Verstappen and felt that the Dutch driver was quite clearly a step above everyone else. While assessing the grid, Berger felt the Red Bull driver was in a league of his own, while the second group comprised drivers like Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, etc.

"Max Verstappen is the best driver, no question about it. But before that, the best driver was in the best team. In the meantime, Max takes the coals out of the fire. Now it will be exciting to see whether Red Bull can return to its old strength or whether Verstappen will continue to have difficulty winning."

It would be interesting to see how Max Verstappen does against a new teammate in Liam Lawson at Red Bull this season. If the four-time champion continues to be as dominant as he has been generally, it could spell trouble for the inexperienced Kiwi.