F1 News
Lawson grateful to have 'watched Verstappen work' to help understanding
Liam Lawson faces a challenging start to the Formula 1 season with Red Bull, as he will be racing on circuits that are largely unfamiliar to him. While Lawson will need to concentrate on his own development, he finds reassurance in having Max Verstappen as his teammate. The Dutchman’s extensive experience and proven ability to extract performance from a car provide a valuable reference point for the New Zealander as he navigates his rookie season with Red Bull Racing.
Lawson kicked off testing on Wednesday morning and was also in action all of Thursday on behalf of his new team. As Verstappen concludes the pre-season test today, Lawson looks back on his first outing in the RB21. "Yeah, I mean, I would say the car feels quite good so far and I'm getting more comfortable, but obviously you can always use more days, to be honest," the Kiwi revealed in Bahrain to media, including GPblog.
Verstappen's new teammate stressed that his focus for now will be on getting to know the new circuits. "Obviously, it's a new team and a new car, but the first couple of races, I've never been there, so it's going to be learning the tracks probably more than anything. So, obviously, fortunately, I have Max on the other side of the garage who will be doing a lot with the car, whereas I think outside, it's going to be spent as much time on building me up on tracks and as well as adapting to the car."
Lawson spent time 'watching how Max works'
Lawson admits he needs to get used to the Red Bull philosophy but has already had a few years to acclimatise himself to the Red Bull family. "Fortunately, I spent quite a few years just in the background with Red Bull. I spent more time with Red Bull as a reserve than I actually did with VCARB in those early years. So I got to sit in the background, watch obviously how Max works, watch how the team works. So I had a sort of a good understanding of that side of it from the team but just didn't drive the car so much. So, for sure, the biggest thing is adapting to the car. And so far, we feel in a comfortable place," explained Lawson.
Technical director Pierre Waché earlier indicated that Verstappen and Lawson are pretty much on the same page with the feedback that they have given so far. Is that true for Lawson? "I think on the feedback side, I mean, we're all meant to be professionals and meant to be sort of able to drive what we're given at the best, regardless of what that sort of balance is. So we're just trying to give accurate feedback on what we're feeling. And that's what I'm trying to do at the moment. And I think so far it's aligned, yeah, pretty well."
This article was written in collaboration with Kim Hoefnagel