LONDON (Reuters) - Liam Lawson has one of the toughest gigs in Formula One as teammate to Max Verstappen but while the 23-year-old New Zealander could be in for a beating, he also expects to learn fast this season.
Verstappen has won four titles in a row with Red Bull and has a reputation, as one reporter put it to Lawson ahead of Tuesday's F1 launch extravaganza in London, of being a "teammate eater".
Lawson is the first teammate Verstappen, 27, has had younger than him but is starting his first full season and has yet to finish higher than ninth in 11 starts for sister team RB. Six months ago, he was not even sure of having a seat in F1.
Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and most recently Sergio Perez have all tried to live with the Dutch driver's brilliance and fallen short.
"It's a great opportunity, the biggest opportunity I've ever had," Lawson told reporters. "I think it just depends on how you look at it.
"Max is extremely successful in the sport but coming in knowing the team's goal of winning the constructors' (title) and getting back on top, that's really what I'm here to help achieve.
"And if we're doing that, I know that I'm doing my job."
While Verstappen retained his drivers' crown, Red Bull lost theirs to McLaren last season -- a result largely of Mexican Perez's shocking collapse in form.
Lawson will be expected to be a more consistent number two, supporting Verstappen and banking the points needed for the constructors' championship while learning unfamiliar tracks.
"As fast as Max is, I get access to everything he's doing so from a learning opportunity it's also massive," said the Kiwi. "There's really nobody better to learn off than him."
"I don't expect to come in and be the best," he added. "Obviously we all believe that we are the best. In any top level sport you can't go into a match or a game and think that the person (against you) could be better than you.
"We all believe we are, and I do, but going up against guys who have done eight or nine seasons of Formula One... I don't expect to come in and beat somebody like that off the bat.
"For me it's about progressing towards that goal of winning. I definitely have enough of that self-belief."
The season starts on March 16 in Melbourne, the closest thing Lawson has to a home race.
"Hopefully the Australians don't hate me too much," he smiled. "It's a really cool track. I did four laps in a V8 Supercar around it last year and it was pretty fun."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)
