Verstappen Story Shared By Lawson As He Names Dutchman's 'Strongest' Quality

Monday, 17 June 2024 at 22:00

Red Bull's and RB's reserve driver Liam Lawson shared a story from his first F1 race weekend and advice from Max Verstappen.

Before 2023, not too many F1 fans knew Liam Lawson. Of course, now we know that he got the chance to substitute Daniel Riccardo in AlphaTauri (now RB) and showed immense potential, outperforming his teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

But when the 22-year-old driver got his first chance during the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, he faced one of the biggest challenges a rookie driver could face.

Zandvoort is one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar, and it was clear the upcoming race would be in changing conditions with torrential rains.

It was a nerve-wracking experience for the Kiwi youngster, but what helped him was advice he received from the reining triple World Champion Max Verstappen. He told TalkSport:

"It was really when I stepped in the car last year. He was there, and the way the driver room works within Red Bull is that it is in this energy station, and they are all in the same area."

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"Max was right next to my room, and before the race in Zandvoort, I was, obviously, pretty stressed about going in, and he just came into my room and was pretty open and said to remember to enjoy it and that it's a big achievement.

What sounds very simple was more important to Lawson than advice on the technicalities of driving F1 cars. The 2023 Dutch Grand Prix turned out to be a brutal race, but despite all the adversities, Lawson brought the car home ahead of his teammate in the end. He added:

"It's more that sort of stuff and not driving related. It was always more mental stuff."

"He's a very mentally strong driver, probably one of the strongest, if not the strongest. He's not phased about anything. He was pretty good to talk to when I stepped into a high-pressure situation."