Lawson sees the clear 'advantage' of being Verstappen's teammate

Team principal Christian Horner has previously indicated that he thinks it is important for Lawson to focus on himself, instead of concentrating on what Verstappen is doing, as the New Zealander is making his next step in the competition. At the press conference in London, the brand-new Red Bull driver was asked whether this is easier said than done with a teammate like the Dutchman sitting in the other car.

"I’ll only know when I start racing. I think right now the focus is pretty clear and from outside the garage, from the team’s perspective and from mine, we’re wanting to adjust as quickly as possible and obviously get up to speed," Lawson told GPblog among others.

Another challenge Lawson will have to face is that he begins his time as a full-time Red Bull with competing at tracks he has not previously driven at. "It’s obviously going to be a process to get up to speed and for me it’s about doing that as quickly as possible and there’s no real expectation or time frame on when I think I’m going to do that. It’s just about working towards doing that as quickly as possible."

'Need to take advantage of being Verstappen's teammate'

Lawson believes he will learn valuable lessons from working together with Verstappen next season, therefore, he looks forward positively to this experience. "Having Max as a teammate is very valuable from a learning perspective. Getting to learn off everything he’s doing, there’s really nobody better to do that. It’s more about making the most and taking advantage of that rather than thinking about it in a way that’s going to obviously put extra pressure on me," he concluded.

This article was written in collaboration with Kimberly Hoefnagel

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