Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson speaks to media at the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix. Image: Joe Portlock/Getty Images
The New Zealander has scored points in three of the last four grands prix, including a career-best sixth-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The consistent run marks a turnaround from the opening phase of his campaign, which saw him start the year with Red Bull before being swiftly demoted to sister team Racing Bulls after struggling to match teammate Max Verstappen.
While the switch could have dented his confidence, Lawson has instead used the opportunity to find his rhythm at Faenza, delivering Racing Bulls valuable points and staking his claim for a longer-term future on the grid.
Despite the momentum, the 23-year-old remains cautious.
“It’s very easy to get ahead of yourself in the sport, and I think that we’ve had a really good couple of weekends and the speed has been very good,” Lawson told RacingNews365.
“But things change very, very quickly. So I think the approach for me stays the same as it has been for most of the season.
“It’s very, very close and competitive. For me, it’s just extracting everything out of me, but I feel comfortable in the car.”
Lawson’s path into Formula 1 has been shaped by his long-term involvement with Red Bull, having joined its driver development programme as a teenager.
He said his journey through the ranks, culminating in a brief stint with the senior team, helped shape him as a driver.
“Being in this programme for five or six years now, even as a junior, I started driving the simulator when I was in F2,” Lawson said.
“I started to get introduced to the team, and then you do your first test days. I’d done a couple of TPCs with them over the years.
“Honestly, I had spent plenty of time, especially with the engineering side of the team, for quite a few years.”
Lawson said the main benefit from his brief stint at Red Bull came from observing how a title-contending operation prepares for a race weekend.
“I really learned quite a lot about the car and about the way the team was,” he said.
“Just working with the team and understanding their approach to race weekends, their approach to setting up the car and things like that, for sure, there are points that I take from that and there are points that I learn.
“That would be the only sort of stuff that I would take from that time, because the rest, I didn’t spend much time there.”
The New Zealander recently acknowledged that setup issues with the RB21 in his second race with the team in China contributed to his demotion, while also admitting that his own performances “weren’t good enough” to keep his seat.
Lawson currently sits 15th in the drivers’ championship on 20 points — two behind his Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar and ten ahead of the driver who replaced him at Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda.
