New Red Bull signing Liam Lawson only has 11 races of Formula 1 experience. But crucially, he’s already driven Christian Horner’s cars.
Lawson has been part of the Red Bull junior programme since 2018 and appeared in an F1 session for the first time in 2022. While he drove the AlphaTauri in his first two practice outings, Horner handed him an outing in the RB18 at the Abu Dhabi GP.
Last year, Lawson received an emergency call-up to the de facto junior squad when Daniel Ricciardo broke his wrist. An impressive five-race stint kept him at the forefront of Red Bull’s minds even as he dropped back into a reserve role.
Ricciardo’s underwhelming performances fed near-constant speculation about Lawson’s return. And he was back in the cockpit for good from the US GP onwards.
Red Bull were able to tap into data from his private test sessions. For instance, Lawson drove the RB20 in a filming day at Silverstone during the summer.
There will inevitably be plenty for the 22-year-old to learn in his first full F1 season. But he does at least understand the car’s unique handling philosophy.
Liam Lawson agrees with Alex Albon on ‘Call of Duty’ Red Bull car
Lawson surprised the hosts of the Pitstop podcast when he admitted that the Red Bull was ‘hard to drive’. He’s able to compare it directly to the slower, but perhaps tamer, VCARB 01.
Former Red Bull man Alex Albon likened the handling to playing ‘Call of Duty’ on a video game controller because it’s ‘so sensitive’. Verstappen admits his driving style may be unfavourable to teammates, but the team have committed to building their car around the four-time world champion.
Lawson says the ‘aggressive’ front end demands confidence as well as accuracy from the cockpit. He can understand how his predecessors lost their way.
“It’s very different,” he said. “It’s quick but it’s hard to drive. It’s what I would call ‘fronty’. It’s very aggressive. It’s a car that takes confidence. It’s got a lot of front grip, and if you don’t quite get it right, you lose the rear. And if you lose the rear in a Formula 1 car, you just lose all your confidence.
On Albon’s comments, he said: “I thought that was a brilliant way to describe it. If you have a low sensitivity, you have a lot of control over what you’re doing. It’s not very aggressive, everything’s happening quite slowly, it’s very stable, it’s very smooth.
“But when you have high sensitivity, everything’s all over the place. You try to play Call of Duty and try to shoot somebody, and your cursor’s going all over the place.
“You have to be really accurate with what you’re doing. That’s what it’s like with the Red Bull.”
Lawson is planning to call Albon as he prepares for his Red Bull debut. They were teammates in the DTM series after the Thai driver lost his seat to Sergio Perez.
Why Christian Horner doesn’t want Liam Lawson to look at Max Verstappen’s data
Lawson says he’s excited to face Verstappen even though many view the second seat as a poisoned chalice. Gasly was demoted back to Toro Rosso after just half a season next to the Dutchman, while Albon and Perez dropped off the grid entirely.
Horner believes that Lawson has the fortitude to cope alongside the 63-time race-winner. Red Bull need a driver who can consistently get within three to four-tenths of Verstappen, but the team principal also views it as a mental game.
To that end, Horner has told Lawson to ‘ignore’ Verstappen’s data. He thinks it will only damage his confidence if he tries to match him.
Long term, his goal will be to bring the championship to Milton Keynes. But realistically, he may have to wait until Verstappen leaves to do so.
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