After just two difficult races into his first full season as an F1 driver, Red Bull decided to switch Lawson with Racing Bulls' Yuki Tsunoda, who also struggled against the seven-time champion Verstappen.

Since the swap, Lawson has rebuilt his reputation in F1 with a series of impressive points finishes in 2025, topped off with a P5 finish in Azerbaijan after qualifying third on the grid, but has opened up about his brief, but tough, stint at the senior Red Bull team.

Lawson's first couple of races were admittedly disastrous, the 24-year-old qualified P18 for the season opener in Melbourne and crashed out in wet conditions, and at China, he qualified dead last in both sprint and main qualifying.

Going up against Verstappen as your teammate is no easy task, just ask Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, or Sergio Perez, but Lawson credited the Dutchman for helping him during a fragile spell in his career.

Speaking on The Gypsy Tales podcast, Lawson said: "He's also so, so nice as a person. He's such a nice guy. Through everything that happened last year with Red Bull, he was so good to me, man.

Lawson even added a small anecdote, revealing that Verstappen would offer him flights home to Monaco, where he had recently moved to.

Lawson's Red Bull-Ford power unit for 2026 has certainly caught the attention of the F1 paddock, with the new engine performing well both on mileage and lap times.

Racing Bulls' midfield rival, Williams' James Vowles believes that there is even more to come from the new powertrain, adding that he believes that "games" are being played in the F1 paddock.