'Cocky' and 'Arrogant' Liam Lawson called out by former McLaren superstar
Red Bull's Liam Lawson has been termed too cocky and arrogant by former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya as he addresses the termination of the Kiwi after just two races. Lawson had replaced Sergio Perez as Max Verstappen's teammate for the 2025 season.
The driver was picked up for his quick adaptive skills and an ability to be mentally strong. All of that came to naught, however, when racing began. Liam Lawson had an underwhelming run in both Melbourne and China, and in a decision that shocked everyone, the Kiwi was fired by Red Bull after just two opportunities.
While Liam Lawson's adaptation of the new car is surely a concern for many, questions have been raised over Red Bull's call to drop the driver after just two opportunities. Juan Pablo Montoya, however, has called out Lawson's arrogant and cocky attitude that seemingly rubbed a lot of people in the paddock the wrong way.
Last season, in the few opportunities that he was given, Liam Lawson had altercations of some sort with Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, and others. Talking to Vision4sport, Montoya talked about the former Red Bull driver's attitude as he said (via Racing News 365):
“I think right now his reputation is not good. You can see all the memes on social media. He's very cocky. A little arrogance is OK. But the problem is that when you're arrogant, you need to deliver. You need to back it up. This was a real slap in the face for him.”
Mexicans would be happy looking at Liam Lawson's plight, says Montoya
In the brief stint that Liam Lawson had with RB last season, there were moments when things got a bit heated between him and Sergio Perez. During the F1 Mexican GP, the Kiwi even flashed a middle finger at Perez, depicting how bad things were starting to get.
Montoya, in the aforementioned interview, felt that the Mexicans would be happy looking at Lawson's plight after the back and forth he had with Sergio Perez last season. He said:
“The Mexicans will be loving this because he gave Checo the middle finger last year because supposedly Perez was a terrible driver. Now you see them in the same car and he's worse than Perez."
“It’s been a very humbling experience for Liam. I think it will help him put everything into perspective. If he doesn’t panic and if he stays in the moment and just goes and drives the car, I think Liam can do a really good job," Montoya added.
Liam Lawson would be back at Racing Bulls for the rest of the season, while Yuki Tsunoda would take over the reins at Red Bull. With the driver being fired, Lawson now has the distinction of being the junior that took the least number of races to make it to the senior team and was dropped as well within the least number of races.