If he is to stay on the right side of Helmut Marko, Liam Lawson is going to have to be mighty close to the pace of his illustrious new teammate.

In terms of his fearsome reputation as Red Bull's Lord High Executioner, Marko appeared to have softened a little last year, not only in allowing Sergio Perez' performance to sink to an almost woeful level but allowing the Mexican to secure a new contract even after facing the prospect of being dropped mid-season.

However, Marko goes into the new season warning that there will be no such mistakes in terms of Liam Lawson, the Austrian setting the New Zealander a tough target for his debut season.

"He should be within three-tenths of Max in both qualifying and in the race," he tells RTL. "That should be enough to get points for the Constructors' Championship," he adds. "He should also steadily increase his performance, if possible."

Having set the youngster such a monumental task, Marko admits that it won't be easy.

"Keeping in mind that within the team he is racing against what is currently the best Formula 1 driver and avoid what many other team-mates of Max have done, where they tried to find remedies in the technology, with some absurd set-ups and strategic plays," says the Austrian. "You have to accept that he is the best and see how far you can get. But you can't go in there thinking, 'I am going to beat him'. That went wrong with all his team-mates."

Ironically, there were times last year when it appeared Marko's own future was under threat, and while that has now subsided there remains the task of essentially rebuilding the team in the wake of a turbulent season.

Other than the Horner saga, there was the speculation over Verstappen's future, not to mention numerous high profile departures, not least design guru Adrian Newey.

Furthermore, in the midst of all this Marko had to keep Lawson on board, aware that failing to secure the Kiwi a 2025 seat would leave him free to look elsewhere.

The Austrian paid tribute to the New Zealander's patience.

"He is very down-to-earth, and he had to wait a while until he even got into Formula 1," he says. "And then, due to the contract situation with Checo Perez, it took a while before we contractually were allowed to say something.

"So, he got a little restless, but let's put it this way, he was very relieved."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 21 hours ago

"That's a tough call and it will be interesting to see where Lawson is at roundabout 5 races in. What if he's at 4 tenths? afterall that would be a 25%variance. Lawson will have it all ahead of him...."

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2. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 21 hours ago

"A reasonable demand. If you consider how close the grid is in qualifying, three-tenths is at least top six if you assume MV is on pole. As for the race, if things go smooth as it can then its orbiting around two positions from the lead team car. Surprisingly, not a big ask from Marko is you want to maximize your weekend points haul.

Lets see if LL can deliver."

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Marko sets three-tenths target for Lawson

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