Liam Lawson breaks down his initial thoughts on the RB21 as the newly promoted Red Bull driver prepares for his first full season in Formula 1.
Speaking on day 3 of pre-season testing, Red Bull’s Liam Lawson breaks down his experience with the RB21. Heading into his first season as a full-time F1 driver, Lawson claimed to have a good feeling with the car.
The young Kiwi driver explained that, while he was happy with the car, the opening races of the season will be a learning curve. With Lawson only competing in the final 6 races of 2024, most upcoming tracks will be a new experience.
“Good as I can be,” Lawson replied when asked about his feeling in the car. “Obviously going to Melbourne, it’s a track that I haven’t driven at so it’s gonna be a tough weekend to obviously learn and adapt as quickly as possible.
“That’s really how most of my races in F1 have been so far anyway, so yeah, it’s exciting. So obviously we’ll try and take as much as we can from it to start the season.”
Lawson was then pushed on his overall feeling on the car. When asked how close he felt to the limit, the Kiwi reiterated he would be more focused on track learning. While he claims to have settled into the RB21 more over testing, he noted the limited track time available.
Despite the daunting task of adapting to the upcoming circuits, Lawson noted the experience of teammate Verstappen. He cited that Verstappen’s work on car setup will allow him to focus more on learning the tracks.
“I would say the car feels quite good so far and I’m getting more comfortable,” he replied. “Obviously you can always use more days to be honest. I think no matter what it’s gonna be for me it’s gonna be more of a track learning thing, especially starting the season. Obviously, it’s a new team and a new car but the first couple of races I have never been there.
“It’s gonna be learning the tracks probably more than anything, so fortunately I have Max [Verstappen] on the other side of the garage who will who we doing a lot with the car whereas I think our side is gonna be spent as much time on on, you know building me up on tracks and as well as adapting to the car.”
When asked if he had similar feedback as his more experienced teammate, Lawson agreed. He reflected on his time in Red Bull’s junior program which he noted as a benefit in moving to the team. While he had little experience on track with Red Bull, he claims to have gained in-depth operational knowledge.
“That’s generally been how it’s been so far,” Lawson said. “Fortunately I spent quite a few years just in the background with Red Bull. I spent more time with Red Bull as reserve than I actually did with VCARB in the in those early years.
“So I got to sit in the background, watch how Max works, watch how the team works. 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 that the biggest thing is adapting to the car and so far we feel in a comfortable place. I think we’re all meant to be professionals and meant to be sort of be able to drive what we’re given at the best regardless of what that sort of balances. So, you know, 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. I think so far it’s aligns, yeah, pretty well.”
