Liam Lawson Reflects on His Return to Racing Bulls

After a brief stint with the lead Red Bull team, Liam Lawson is back with Racing Bulls. Despite the challenging two Formula 1 races he experienced, the Kiwi driver asserts that his confidence remained unshaken.

The Challenges Faced in Red Bull’s RB21

Lawson reunited with the Italian squad following just a brace of grand prix weekends with Red Bull, where his results and performance gap to Max Verstappen were deemed insufficient by Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. The New Zealander faced several issues during these races, including water pressure problems in testing, a turbocharger issue in Australia’s FP3 session, and limited practice time.

Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, Lawson qualified 18th and 20th for his two grands prix with the team, 20th for the China sprint race, and crashed out in the Albert Park season opener.

Rebuilding Confidence or Adapting to a New Car?

When asked about rebuilding his confidence after a challenging stint with Red Bull, Lawson asserted that it never needed to be restored. Instead, his focus was on adapting to a new car – the VCARB 02 – with limited running.

Honestly, confidence-wise, nothing really changed from the start of the year,” Lawson declared. “I didn’t spend anywhere near enough time [in the Red Bull] for me to reflect on those two races and go, ‘oh my god, I’ve really struggled in this car, I’ve lost my ability.’

It wasn’t about rebuilding confidence; it was about getting used to a new car and team as quickly as possible. Lawson feels confident that he has been able to adapt effectively.

The Challenges of Tyre Management in Formula 1

Lawson also discussed the difficulty of starting on the front foot across practice sessions in a race, particularly due to the variety of conditions at the opening races. He believes that many of these variables are not easily replicable in the simulator, making it challenging for teams to determine the best way to use the tyres during preparation laps.

To be honest, it feels like a little bit of a tricky year with tyres, with set-up,” he explained. “I think warm-up, we’ve had very different conditions.

The unique challenges presented by this year have made it more difficult to get a good balance with the tyres, and Lawson believes that these real-life conditions are not easily simulated, making preparation more challenging than in past years.