Liam Lawson believes he will have a “mountain to climb” for his return to F1 for the final six races of 2024, with the New Zealand driver acknowledging that a sprint weekend in Austin could prove particularly difficult.
After impressing in five races in 2023 as replacement for the injured Daniel Ricciardo, Lawson is once again replacing the Australian, this time permanently for the end of the 2024 season, at RB F1.
“Potentially yes, it’s less complicated than last year, but it’s still a big jump.”
“It will be difficult to take the plunge. I’ve never been to Austin either, so even though I’ve done a lot of simulator work, it will be a big challenge. I would say I’m more prepared, definitely more prepared this year than last year.”
“At the same time, it’s a little later in the season this year, and like I said before, these guys have done three-quarters of a season. Obviously, I’ve been training like crazy the whole time. year to try to be ready for something like this, but even the few tests I’ve done this year, there’s nothing like being in race shape and it will be a challenge to Austin.”
Lawson acknowledged that arriving directly in Austin could make the Sprint format tricky for him as he tries to learn the circuit.
“I only have experience on the tracks I did last year, so the ones I haven’t done are Austin, Las Vegas, Brazil. Luckily I did a test session free in Mexico once It will still be a challenge, but at least I drove on the track.
“It’s the same with Abu Dhabi, I drove there in F1, I did a free practice session there with the Red Bull. It will simply be a question of learning the tracks well which I haven’t yet do.”
“The hardest thing about Austin is that it’s a sprint weekend, so there will be a practice session and then straight into sprint qualifying. Obviously I’m going to have to try to learn as much as I can in one single session and move on to qualifying.”
Another factor Lawson must adjust to is the increased attention paid to him on the outside. Indeed, some see him replacing Sergio Perez in 2025 if he manages to beat Yuki Tsunoda.
“I was lucky enough to have a little bit of experience with it last year, so I’m more prepared. It’s probably the one thing that we drivers don’t really do… There’s There’s no real preparation for it, the pressure from the media, it’s something you’re just thrown into.”
“We’re doing all this work to try to be ready to race the car as quickly as possible and just focus on that, but like you said, the reality is there’s a lot of attention outside of Even in the three hours after the announcement, I tried not to think about it, but my phone completely blew up and that’s something I have to get used to.”
“Obviously we now have a mountain to climb before the start of next season because hopefully I will be able to drive next year as well. I hope it will be the start of F1 for me, but I want just say thank you to everyone, because I really appreciate it.”
Some pressure was taken off him however as it was confirmed by Christian Horner that he would have a 10 place penalty for changing engines (on Ricciardo’s quota).
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