Lawson sometimes does not believe his own eyes: 'Max is SO comfortable'
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Liam Lawson showed he was cut from the right racing cloth as Daniel Ricciardo' s replacement in 2023. Still, the New Zealander will have to be patient, as he was not allocated a seat for this season. Naturally, Lawson was disappointed, but he knows he is in the right place. Full of admiration, he watches Max Verstappen, as well as learning from the triple world champion.
The chances of Lawson again not driving Formula 1 in 2025 seem slim. Rumours seeped into the rumour circuit last season - when Visa Cash App RB extended Ricciardo's contract by a year - that Marko would have promised the 22-year-old a seat for 2025. Lawson has at least a season to learn from the reigning world champions (Red Bull and Verstappen).
"Obviously, if I could choose any team to be with, I would definitely choose this one, Because I have basically direct access to to all of the information, and I guess almost exactly how he [Verstappen] does it and how the team [Red Bull] does it as well," said Lawson, who is the Austrian racing stable's test and reserve driver.
Difference between Verstappen and Hamilton
Red Bull have built another great car with the RB20, and Lawson can therefore see that Verstappen has the biggest confidence in his car. "Max's confidence level with that car, it's got to be higher than anybody’s. If you look at Lewis for example he's obviously not 100% happy, and hasn't been with that car. You can imagine that every time he approaches the start of a qualifying lap or or any lap really he's not going to be 100% confident with what he's got underneath him and know exactly what it's going to do."
With Verstappen, the opposite seems to be happening at the moment. "Whereas with where Max is at right now with the Red Bull, the car is in such a good window and he's so comfortable with it that, basically, the best way to see it is when you look at qualifying lap from Jeddah," Lawson continued on Sky Sports' F1 podcast. "He does not miss an apex and he gets so close, like so close to the wall, in places, Turn 4, I’m pretty sure he touched it on the inside. Which is extremely difficult to do, to be that precise. But it's not just Turn 4, it's Turn 10, it's Turn 22 as well, it's everywhere. Basically he's so precise with and it's because he's so confident with the car and it's those things that really make up lap time as well."