Marko offers Lawson blunt advice to avoid Red Bull exit

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has bluntly advised Liam Lawson to quickly "accept that Verstappen is the best", to avoid a similar fate to Max Verstappen's former team-mates. 

All of the four-time world champion's former Red Bull team-mates have been unable to consistently match him, something Marko does not want Lawson to immediately target. 

The New Zealander will become the fifth driver to partner Verstappen at the Milton Keynes-based team, following a successful promotion from sister team, Racing Bulls. 

At just 22 years old, Lawson has a long F1 career ahead of him; however, whether that career will be spent with a leading team or in the midfield will depend on how he deals with Verstappen. 

Marko is confident Lawson has the ability to immediately be within three tenths of the reigning world champion across qualifying and in race trim. 

However, the Austrian wants Lawson to accept that Verstappen is the best driver currently in F1, and that the target should not be to beat him. 

It is this point, which Marko notes as having been the downfall of the Dutchman's former team-mates. 

"He should be able to stay within three tenths of Max both in qualifying and in the races," Marko told Sport.de. "That should be enough to accumulate points for the constructors' championship.

"Gradually he will have to improve as much as possible, but always keeping in mind that he is driving alongside the best F1 driver at the moment. 

"In doing so, he should not get involved in the technical side of things, such as setups and strategies, for example, something other team-mates have done in the past."

"Liam will have to accept that Verstappen is the best. We will see how close he can get, but he should not get in the car with the aim of beating Verstappen. That has gone wrong with all his teammates."