Liam Lawson
agrees that he has to deliver performances to maintain his position at Red Bull in F1, yet points out that he lacks the necessary time to familiarize himself with the team’s 2025 vehicle.
The New Zealand driver secured the final qualifying spot for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, giving Red Bull the chance to bypass parc fermé rules and make several adjustments to his RB21. As a result, he utilized a distinct aerodynamic setup during the race.
Max Verstappen
Lawson believed that most of these modifications did not turn out well.
He eventually secured the 15th position, advancing two spots towards the end as Yuki Tsunoda’s front wing failed.
Jack Doohan
faced a 10-second penalty due to bumping into something
Isack Hadjar
off the road.
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Red Bull is looking at an early exchange of Lawson and Tsunoda for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Lawson mentions that he requires more time to gain a deeper comprehension of the RB21. When pressed for details about this timeframe, he clarified that due to the lack of in-season testing and an upcoming triple-header event, he doesn’t have ample opportunity to familiarize himself with the vehicle through driving practice.
Lawson stated, “We were aware it would be challenging, so we began from the pit lane to experiment with some adjustments to the car, but sadly, it didn’t turn out as planned.” He continued, “This difficult weekend turned out to be even tougher today.”
Nico Hulkenberg from Sauber, Liam Lawson with Red Bull Racing
Image courtesy of: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
I’m short on time to adapt, yet I must solve this swiftly. There’s no room for testing and getting accustomed; however, we’re deep into the season now, thus every race costs us valuable points. This is essentially what I mean about not having enough time.
“But I’m certainly not naive; I understand that my primary purpose here is to deliver performances – and if I fail at that, I won’t last long. My sole focus right now is to get accustomed to this vehicle as swiftly as possible.”
When asked about his gap to Verstappen during qualifying laps specifically, Lawson stated that the discrepancies over a single lap were usually minimal. The main areas where he fell short were typically just a few spots.
He further mentioned that in the critical areas where the RB21 performs with great turbulence, the Dutch driver has the potential to extract significantly more performance from it and be consistently pushing the limits.
When questioned regarding the notion of Red Bull orchestrating an exchange involving him, Lawson remained unyielding.
Yuki Tsunoda
, which is expected to be discussed when the team meets before the Japanese Grand Prix.
Lawson said, ‘I have been racing against him for many years, defeating him in junior categories and also in Formula 1, so he is free to say anything he wishes.’
Fact check
Yuki Tsunoda at Jenzer Motorsport alongside Liam Lawson, and MP Motorsport
Image courtesy of: Joe Portlock / Motorsport Images
In the 2019 Euroformula Open championship, Lawson emerged victorious over Tsunoda, securing second place overall while Tsunoda finished fourth. However, Tsunoda performed better in that year’s F3 championship, accumulating more points, which led to his promotion to F2 before Lawson in 2020.
In their 11 races together at AlphaTauri, Tsunoda also had more points than Lawson.
RB
, and outclassed him 10-1 (sprint qualifying not included).
In their 2020 Toyota Racing Series effort, Lawson outperformed Tsunoda by securing the second position.
Franco Colapinto
And his teammate from the Red Bull Junior Team competing in the winter championship based in New Zealand.