Liam Lawson has exclusively told Motorsport Week that Racing Bulls’ early-season upgrades package proved to be a major “green flag” in its Formula 1 midfield battle.
The Kiwi has gone from strength to strength in what is, his three Red Bull outings excepted – his first full season with the Faenza-based squad.
Lawson and rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad have both benefitted from the competitive VCARB 03 challenger, which, between both men, has finished in the top 10 in all but two Grands Prix this season.
The Red Bull satellite outfit was in the mix of a fraught early-season battle in the midfield, with Haas and Alpine very much in the fray.
But, as the season has progressed, Racing Bulls has become the most consistent in the midfield, and ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, leads that mini-pack, 39 points ahead of the latter.
In an exclusive interview with Motorsport Week at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Lawson responded positively when asked if he always felt confidence in his team’s surge ahead of its rivals as the season grew.
“I mean, I’ve always had confidence that we could do it, we could do a good job, but you never know in this kind of season as well,” he said.
“You know, one team brings an upgrade… and if you look at McLaren a few years ago, they went from being one of the worst teams on the grid to the best, actually, within six months, and so, you never know in Formula 1.
“But I always had confidence that we’d at least maximise our package that we had, and once the first few upgrades came, and they started just all sort of delivering as we expected them to – that was probably a big sort of green flag for us going, ‘OK, everything this year that we’re doing is working’.
“You know, a lot of times you bring an upgrade, it actually, technically gives you more downforce, but can upset the balance, and, yeah, I feel like that’s something that the team’s done very well this year.”
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