Liam Lawson has dismissed the suggestion he was bereft of confidence after his two-round stint at Red Bull to start the F1 season.
Team principal Christian Horner partly justified the decision to switch the New Zealander for Yuki Tsunoda as part of the Milton Keynes squad’s “duty of care” towards the 23-year-old.
However, Lawson has explained why the experience alongside Max Verstappen – and the subsequent change – was perhaps not the confidence-sapping episode Red Bull has made it out to be.
Striking a defiant tone on his return to Racing Bulls, prior to the Japanese Grand Prix, he appeared at odds with the 51-year-old over the abrupt decision, which caught him and the rest of the F1 paddock off guard.
“I think confidence-wise it doesn’t change a lot,” Lawson told media, including RacingNews365. “We all have enough self-belief to be here and to make it to Formula 1. If you don’t have that self-belief, it makes it very difficult.
“So I think we all have that naturally. It doesn’t really change how I feel about myself. I think what it’s doing for me… Obviously, the best opportunity I had felt like it was with Red Bull Racing. That’s what we’re all working towards.
“That’s what I was working towards since joining the junior programme as a 16-year-old. So obviously, I would have liked to make that opportunity work and that’s in my best interest.
“But obviously, Christian [Horner] and the team will have their opinions on what’s best, and that’s up to them to decide.”
Lawson: ‘I felt like I was ready’
Lawson was promoted to Red Bull at the end of last season, in place of the under-performing Sergio Perez – but managed to lower the bar further still at the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix.
He detailed why those rounds were outliers and how he had hoped to remain in the seat longer, in order to race at more familiar venues, like Suzuka.
Routinely around six to seven-tenths of a second shy of Verstappen, Lawson failed to score in Melbourne and Shanghai. Meanwhile, the Dutchman racked up 36 points.
Despite being the least-experienced driver to be moved up from Red Bull’s second team, after just 11 grands prix – one fewer than Alex Albon in 2019 – Lawson maintains he felt ready for the challenge.
When asked whether he had enough time in F1 under his belt prior to the jump up to Red Bull, he replied: “I think it’s easy to look at it in that way. They were not the smoothest of weekends and at tracks that were very new to me.
“So in some senses, yes, it was early. But at the same time, I think part of the reason they brought me in in the first place was to adapt quickly. And although that was tough – yeah, I guess you can say anything now the decision’s been done…
“But it doesn’t change how I view it or how I view myself. I felt like I was ready, so although the weekends were tough, that doesn’t change.”
