Liam Lawson has revealed that his initial discomfort with Racing Bulls’ 2025 Formula 1 car compounded the woes he encountered upon his demotion from Red Bull.
Lawson began the campaign alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull, but a dismal opening two weekends prompted the management to demote him to its sister side.
Despite insisting that his faith in his capabilities had not been dented, Lawson struggled to get back up to speed at Racing Bulls as rookie Isack Hadjar outshone him.
That culminated in Hadjar taking his first podium with a sublime drive at Zandvoort, installing him as the leading contender to partner Verstappen at Red Bull in 2026.
However, Lawson has enhanced the prospect that he will remain on the grid next season with an impressive weekend in Baku that saw him come home in fifth place.
The New Zealander has conceded that it took him a while to understand how to exploit the potential embedded within Racing Bull’s VCARB 02 car following his swap.
“The timing was not the best, the car needed a quite different approach to driving, and I had to readapt,” Lawson told Automoto.
“Since then, we have also made some changes to make me more comfortable, over the course of a few races.
“Obviously, the ideal situation would be to do all this before the start of the season, but I think it’s a process that helped me feel more comfortable in the last races.
“The main problem concerns all those small aspects that make you comfortable with the car, and that you take care of before the season starts.
“These are elements that concern the preferences of the driver in particular, beyond getting used to the car and making the most of it.
“All this, unfortunately, I had to do during the race weekends.”
How Mekies aided Lawson rebuild
Lawson credited Laurent Mekies, who has since departed Racing Bulls to replace Christian Horner at Red Bull, with ensuring that he could return to his previous level.
“Laurent [Mekies] was a great help to me from the first call I had with him to prepare for Japan. He was great with me.
“He understands drivers very well and establishes a personal relationship with them.
“He cares a lot and worries about everything we go through during a season, even on a personal level. He notices everything and takes time to understand and try to help us.”
READ MORE – Liam Lawson unsure of ‘what’s going on’ amid aim to retain Racing Bulls F1 seat
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