Liam Lawson accepts the beginning of his life as a Red Bull F1 driver won’t be a simple task as he not only has to adjust to a new car and team having spent all of one-and-a-half days on track with them, but the first couple of circuits are new to him.

As such, he’s grateful to have four-time World Champion Max Verstappen on the other side of the garage working to improve the car and nail the set-up.

Liam Lawson’s RB21 feedback ‘aligns’ with Max Verstappen’s

Lawson‘s 12th Grand Prix as a Formula 1 driver will be with Red Bull Racing, the New Zealander promoted to the senior team when they parted ways with the under-fire Sergio Perez. Lawson is under no illusion about the challenge ahead.

The F1 2025 championship begins with two circuits Lawson has never raced on, the Albert Park street circuit and the Shanghai International.

However, after those opening two rounds, the circus is off to Suzuka, where he narrowly missed out on point in 11th place at the 2023 event filling in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo, followed by Bahrain, which he has lapped extensively in pre-season testing, and then Jeddah that he knows from Formula 2. There he won the Sprint with Carlin in 2022.

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But first he has to get through Australia and China.

It has Lawson conceding that while he’ll be focusing on adjusting to life with Red Bull, it will be up to Verstappen to find the sweet spot in the RB21.

“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,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com on Day Three in Bahrain.

“I think no matter what for me it’s going to 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’ve never been there, so it’s going to be learning the tracks probably more than anything.

“So fortunately, I have Max on the other side of the garage who will be doing a lot with the car, whereas I think our side is going to be spent as much time on building me up on tracks as well as adapting to the car.”

The good news is both he and Verstappen have the same first feelings from the RB21.

“I think so,” he said. “That’s generally been how it’s been so far.

“For sure, that the biggest thing is adapting to the car, and so far, we feel in a comfortable place.

“So yeah, it’s tricky to say, but I think on the feedback side, it’s… I mean, 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 balance is.

“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, and I think so far it’s aligns pretty well.”

He added: “I think 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 those early years.

“I got to sit in the background and 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.”

Lawson has joined Red Bull ahead of what is being widely predicted could be the most competitive season in Formula 1 in years with four, if not five or six, teams fighting at the front.

The 23-year-old’s job is to help Verstappen hold off the chasing pack as he seeking his fifth successive World title while also doing his part to assist the team in regaining the Constructors’ title.

“I think at the end of like a regulation period, everybody’s really maximising where the cars at, and they’ve obviously learned a lot over the last couple of years. So I think it’s going to be tight,” Lawson admitted.

“It was very, very tight last year, especially towards the end, so I would expect it to be very, very close, but obviously we’ll find out, and we probably won’t truly find out until qualifying in Melbourne.”

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