Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson recalled his Red Bull days, highlighting the importance of the support of former Team Principal Laurent Mekies while resuming his spot at the sister team. In spite of the brevity of his experience at the team who has dominated the past four seasons, the Kiwi reckons sharing a garage with Max Verstappen has had a strong impact on his racing.
An everlasting impact
In fact, Lawson discussed his experience as Red Bull F1 driver in an exclusive interview with Auto Moto, and especially how enticing it was for him to work alongside their star driver, even if for a short while.
“I’ve driven only two races as his teammate, but even looking at him from afar you con understand many things. All teams share data others can see too, basic information such as GPS. I have been comparing myself to Max for some years, and it’s impressive to see what he is doing. He is simply very fast, very reliable, very at easy with his car.”
Even more challenging was the return to VCARB for the young driver, as he didn’t have time to settle in ahead of racing, with three consecutive races held in Japan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
“Timing was not the best, I only had one week before triple header. They were conceited moments. The car needed a rather different driving style. I had to readapt and since then we have also made some changes for me to be more at ease over the span of some races.”
“Obviously it would be best to do all of this before the beginning of the season, but I think this is a process that has helped me to be more at ease in the past races.”
Not an easy return
Elaborating on what were the most difficult components to handle while getting used to the VCARB 02 challenger, Lawson admitted that the small set-up tweaks were difficult to handle alongside the process of his departure from Red Bull .
“The main issue concerns all those little aspects that make you at ease with your car that you generally handle before the beginning of the season. These elements include the driver’s personal preference, in addition to adapting to the car and pushing it to the maximum. All of this, unfortunately, I’ve had to do it during race weekends.”
His biggest help during those times of uncertainty had been at time Racing Bulls Team Principal Laurent Mekies, now replacing Christian Horner at Red Bull. Lawson expressed his gratitude towards the Frenchman and the great bond they shared, which was pivotal in his settling back in in the team where he had made his F1 debut in 2023.
“Laurent was incredibly helpful ever since the first phone call I’ve had with him to prepare for Japan. [Mekies] was fantastic with me, and he really understands the drivers, building a personal relationship with them. He really cares about it, and worries about everything we go through during a season, even on a personal level. He notices everything and takes time to understand and trying to help us. “
