{"id":575267,"date":"2026-08-20T22:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/575267\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T22:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:26:09","slug":"formula-1-liam-lawsons-message-as-kiwi-faces-brutal-challenge-on-red-bull-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/575267\/","title":{"rendered":"Formula 1: Liam Lawson\u2019s message as Kiwi faces brutal challenge on Red Bull return"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019ve had quite a good season so far. For me, I\u2019m just focused on trying to continue that this weekend \u2013 even if I\u2019m in a different car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, for all the feel-good factor of Lawson getting a chance to put right any wrongs from his brief stint at Red Bull in 2025, the Kiwi also has an unenviable task. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s stepping back into a car that\u2019s famously difficult to drive, and, considering the sprint weekend format will limit all 22 drivers to a single practice session, Lawson\u2019s fight over the coming days is going to be tricky at best.<\/p>\n

Since Lawson was confirmed to make his return earlier this week, he has effectively been living in Red Bull\u2019s simulator. Even the team\u2019s in-house media channels weren\u2019t permitted access to film any content with the Kiwi in order to maximise his opportunities to learn his new car. <\/p>\n

However, while Red Bull\u2019s RB22 is much less forgiving than the Racing Bulls VCARB03 he\u2019s piloted to ninth in the drivers championship so far this season, this scenario is almost identical to Lawson\u2019s introduction into Formula One in 2023.<\/p>\n

On that occasion, Lawson deputised for Daniel Ricciardo \u2013 who also suffered a wrist injury at Zandvoort \u2013 on short notice, was afforded just one practice session, and took his car from 20th to 13th in the grand prix.<\/p>\n

And considering his added experience in the years since, with an extra 46 grands prix now under his belt, Lawson\u2019s foundation this weekend is much more solid. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot more races since then, I feel much more comfortable racing in this sport,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s going to be a very challenging weekend, for sure. [With] a sprint weekend, it\u2019s going to be a quick learning process tomorrow. That\u2019s what we\u2019re focused on, it\u2019s what we were trying to do yesterday in the simulator.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can speed up that learning process as much as possible, it would help our weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LiamLiam Lawson arrives at Zandvoort for his return to Red Bull Racing. Photo \/ SmartFrame<\/p>\n

For all the talk of Lawson\u2019s first taste of Red Bull, he\u2019d be forgiven for eyeing the Dutch Grand Prix as a shot at redemption.<\/p>\n

With his own future yet to be confirmed<\/a> beyond this season, being given this opportunity \u2013 instead of Red Bull reserve driver and former teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who will deputise at Racing Bulls \u2013 speaks volumes about how the team views Lawson. <\/p>\n

And while there\u2019s hardly nothing to lose, considering Red Bull\u2019s fight for third in the lucrative constructors championship, Lawson makes no bones of the situation he\u2019s faced with. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as, for me, I\u2019ve done all the prep I can \u2013 which I feel like I have \u2013 and accept it\u2019s going to be tough, I\u2019m going to try and enjoy it,\u201d he said with a smile. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a track I\u2019ve enjoyed racing at in the past, and it\u2019s the last time we\u2019re here as well. But as challenging as it\u2019s going to be, it\u2019s very exciting. We\u2019ll try and make the most of tomorrow, getting in the car at the start of practice is going to be quite foreign.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to learn as much through sprint quali, the sprint race and being as prepped for quali on Saturday is probably the target.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Powell<\/a> is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019ve had quite a good season so far. For me, I\u2019m just focused on trying to continue that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[53396,806,110,22947,6636,6119,29188,33262,194,138264,20409,6096,111,139,69,90,15406,1527,213],"class_list":["post-575267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-53396","tag-as","tag-brutal","tag-bull","tag-challenge","tag-faces","tag-formula","tag-hour","tag-kiwi","tag-lawsons","tag-liam","tag-message","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-red","tag-return","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}