Red Bull's new signing pulls back the curtain on his father's emotional reaction to him being promoted to race alongside Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing's pick to join Max Verstappen for the 2025 season, Liam Lawson, has shared how his father reacted to the news that he was going to be joining the Austrian team. Lawson, in an interview, told the story of how he told his father about him getting the spot and his father's sentimental reaction to the news.

Lawson is joining Red Bull after it was announced earlier this week that its driver Segio Perez and it have decided to part ways. The news about him replacing Perez, who had been with the team since the 2021 season, was released one day later.

The Kiwi driver, speaking on the podcast Pitstop about his joining the Red Bull team, described how he wanted to make his father guess the big news before breaking it to him, and how once he did figure it out, he burst into tears.

"[I said to him,] 'I got to go to Silverstone for a test,' and he was like, ‘What are you saying?’ I could see [it] in his eyes and I was like, ‘I got the seat,’ and for two minutes it was really minimal reaction. He was just like, 'Are you serious?’ and I could see he couldn't believe it and then two minutes later he just started crying,” Liam Lawson said. [3:36]

Speaking further about his new position on the grid in 2025, Liam Lawson continued:

"My whole family sacrificed a lot for me when I was go-kart racing as a kid so for everybody it's very cool.”

Lawson, who has raced the last six GPs of the 2024 season for Red Bull's sister team, Visa Cash App RB, finished the season having scored four points with his P9 finishes in Austin and Brazil.

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Liam Lawson credits his parents for his mindset helping him join Red Bull

Further on in his interview with Pitstop, Liam Lawson also took a moment to talk about his belief about him joining Formula 1 at some point.

“Thanks to my parents for being really supportive and especially on the mindset my dad was like, ‘If you work hard enough for something, you can do anything you want to do,’" Liam Lawson said. [36:14]

Lawson explained that since he came from a family that didn't have a lot of support to go into the world of racing, it was fortunate for him to have a positive mindset.

The 22-year-old will join the grid for Red Bull Racing once the 2025 F1 season begins in March for the first race in Australia.