The Kiwi has had a rollercoaster career since then. He was promoted to Red Bull Racing for the start of this year but was dropped after just two races, after which it took months for him to rebuild his confidence and recover momentum.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s now under pressure to hold his seat into 2026, with Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad in the mix for promotion from Formula 2.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Speaking ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix one year on from the beginning of his full-time Formula 1 journey, Lawson revealed that his chaotic introduction to the sport has left him unable to fully enjoy fulfilling his F1 dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou enjoy the success, you enjoy the good moments, the results,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it is it is crazy how quickly that mindset changes and flicks onto the next one.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaku was a great result, and I was super stoked for the team and I was soaked with how the race was. It felt like a great performance from me, but very quickly, within a few hours, you are already focused on the next one coming up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in my position as well, when I\u2019m trying to secure a seat next year, it\u2019s probably more natural to be thinking ahead more and trying to keep these results coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s probably less enjoyment than you\u2019d expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kiwi said his unstable debut in the sport meant he has never felt truly comfortable in the paddock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only time you\u2019re secure is when you\u2019re performing. and I don\u2019t think there\u2019s many drivers apart from some of the top guys that are going to feel completely secure in the sport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s not really a new feeling anyway. It\u2019s something that we are very used to.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that in the Red Bull program we are introduced to at a very young age knowing that the only way you step up through the ladder is by performing and you have that pressure all the time. It\u2019s on a bigger scale but it\u2019s the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
PIT TALK PODCAST: After his disaster in Azerbaijan, can Oscar Piastri bounce back in Singapore to reassert himself as the championship leader?<\/p>\n
Marina Bay will be only the fourth circuit this season at which Lawson has raced before, albeit two seasons ago while standing in for the injured Ricciardo.<\/p>\n
Last year he arrived back on the sidelines and harbouring the uncomfortable knowledge that he was poised to take Ricciardo\u2019s job while sharing the Australian\u2019s garage as a reserve driver.<\/p>\n
Lawson described that weekend as \u201cextremely uncomfortable\u201d, though he said his relationship with Ricciardo became only stronger in the aftermath.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the only thing I took away from it was how much of a good person Daniel is and how he was to me through the whole journey, from when I first came into the seat when he had his injury to going back to reserve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a very good relationship \u2014 still do, honestly. I think my only takeaway from that weekend last year was just how much respect I have for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe sent me a nice message after Baku. He\u2019s obviously off on his own journey at the moment. But he\u2019s been very supportive.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously we\u2019re from the same part of the world as well, so it\u2019s something that we probably both understand \u2014 it\u2019s quite difficult to get to this point, and we\u2019re both really lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ricciardo\u2019s sacking last year ended his Formula 1 career, with the Australian recently confirming that he has no intention to return to active competition, quashing the low hum of idle speculation that he could seek to make a comeback to Formula 1 or elsewhere.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s since gone to ground, being yet to return to the paddock and having made few public appearances.<\/p>\n
Lawson wouldn\u2019t comment on Ricciardo\u2019s decision to hang up the helmet \u2014 \u201cAt some point it\u2019s very personal; it\u2019s whatever you decide,\u201d he said \u2014 but he did have one piece of advice for his newly bewhiskered fellow antipodean. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe probably needs to shave his beard in most people\u2019s opinions!\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Under-pressure F1 star Liam Lawson hasn\u2019t enjoyed his Formula 1 career as much as he would have expected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[118847,1724,64,63,689,961,118850,52629,22777,14210,118848,817,813,816,2105,34866,825,1736,677,2119,13833,118849,59978,118851,942,2812,85,106464,118852,12000],"class_list":["post-186380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-active-competition","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-azerbaijan","tag-bewhiskered-fellow-antipodean","tag-bounce-back","tag-championship-leader","tag-driver-market","tag-driver-program","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-joe-portlock","tag-max-verstappen","tag-new-zealand","tag-oceania","tag-pit-talk","tag-press-release","tag-public-appearances","tag-reserve-driver","tag-rollercoaster-career","tag-singapore","tag-south-eastern-asia","tag-sports","tag-title-gap","tag-uncomfortable-knowledge","tag-western-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}