Liam Lawson says he felt significantly more comfortable in the current Red Bull RB22 during his Dutch Grand Prix return than he did during his brief two-race stint with the team at the start of the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Lawson, called up to replace the injured Isack Hadjar at Zandvoort, scored a strong seventh-place finish and reflected on how his acclimatization was much quicker this time around. “Honestly, with how last year was, with those two weekends, the way those weekends played out, being two tracks I’d never done, I honestly still don’t think I even have an opinion on what that car was to drive,” Lawson shared. “I feel like I got more comfortable in this [the RB22] in a weekend, so yeah, it’s very hard to compare.”
He pointed out that the RB22 and the Racing Bulls VCARB 03 have “completely different” aerodynamic philosophies, and while every driver tries to personalize their car, changing to a new machine for a single weekend comes with its own set of challenges. “There’s stuff in this car that aren’t the same as mine, in terms of just driver comfort, that I’ve had to get my head around. Without being too specific, but that’s stuff that has probably been the most challenging.”
Lawson’s positive experience in his Red Bull return stands in contrast to his difficult initial outings in 2025, and he now waits to see how long his stand-in role will last while Hadjar recovers from a wrist injury.
Hadjar, meanwhile, has revealed that MotoGP champion Marc Marquez advised him not to rush his comeback—a reminder of the importance of patience and full recovery in elite motorsport.
