Liam Lawson gave his verdict on Red Bull’s current Formula 1 challenger just a matter of weeks prior to being moved back to Racing Bulls.
The Kiwi was replaced by Yuki Tsunoda earlier this week, having completed just two race weekends, having finished 14th and 12th in both races in China, following a DNF in Australia.
Those in defence of Lawson have been able to use the RB21’s lack of competitiveness as a reason for the seismic difference in results compared to those of team-mate Max Verstappen.
It has often been publicly discussed that all Red Bull cars are designed to tailor Verstappen’s own unique driving style, which proves a secondary difficulty.
On F1’s official podcast Beyond the Grid, which was aired just two weeks ago, Lawson was asked how the RB21 stacks-up compared to that of its previous challengers, in which he has also driven in his previous capacity as a test driver.
“It’s definitely not the same,” Lawson replied. “They’re all evolutions of each other, so it’s just an evolution of last year.
“It’s similar, but we’re trying to make the car faster, and we’re trying to make it easier to drive – and it does feel better to drive.
“Obviously, for me as well, I’ve come from a car that wasn’t a Red Bull Racing car, so that had its own sort of unique characteristics, and this car’s actually quite different to drive.
“For me, it’s very different because I haven’t raced a Red Bull car before, so although I tested it, it’s not what I’m used to. So in a lot of ways, it’s going to be new for me.”
Racing Bulls ‘very different’ car to drive compared to Red Bull counterpart
Liam Lawson was also asked about the difference in drivability between a Red Bull and Racing Bulls car, in which he had two stints in both 2023 and ’24, and will now do so again from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards.
“It’s very different, honestly,” he said.
“It’s more different than I think people would expect.
“Little things make a massive difference, and the two cars, they have the same sort of steering wheel, same power unit and stuff like that, same suspension.
“But aero wise, it’s very, very different – and Formula 1 is basically about aero, so it’s, it is very, very different to drive.”
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