Liam Lawson’s experience at Red Bull turned out to be a fiasco. The New Zealander only competed in two race weekends at the wheel of the tricky RB21 before being demoted back to Racing Bulls and replaced by Yuki Tsunoda. During the Melbourne and Shanghai rounds, he was also hampered by engine problems, which further limited the rookie’s mileage. Over those two weekends, Liam Lawson was also eliminated in Q1 three times, showing a significant gap from his teammate Max Verstappen.
However, upon returning to Racing Bulls, his performances didn’t improve much—he finished seventeenth at Suzuka and, after a collision, crossed the finish line in Sakhir in sixteenth place. Nevertheless, Liam Lawson denied that his issues stem from a loss of morale following his demotion, instead stating that he’s still adapting to the Racing Bulls VCARB 02: “Honestly, from a confidence point of view, nothing has changed since the start of the year,” Lawson told the media yesterday in Saudi Arabia.
“I’ve had two races that were very messy for a lot of reasons, but I don’t think my confidence has changed. It’s just a matter of readjusting to a new car and team and trying to do everything as quickly as possible. I think that’s where the focus has been, and honestly, I feel just as confident as always.”
The New Zealander continued: “To be honest, it feels like a tricky year when it comes to tyres and setup. I think we had very different conditions during warm-up. We went from Japan, which was very cold, to Bahrain, which was very hot, and when you’re trying to build the tyre in the perfect way, it’s a completely unique thing to work on—and something you can’t simulate.”
Liam Lawson concluded by saying: “The car setup can be simulated, and I think it’s in a good place, but it’s the other things you can’t work on that are really tough.”
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