Lawson predicts "very, very tough" start of season on unfamiliar tracks · RaceFans

Liam Lawson expects a difficult start to his first full season as a Formula 1 driver as he has never raced at some of the first tracks the series will visit.

Red Bull has promoted Lawson to be Max Verstappen’s new team mate after just 11 grand prix appearances. The team won nine grands prix last year but Lawson says he is unlikely to start the season challenging for victories.

“Coming into Formula 1, the goal was to do a good job to obviously move up to the main team, and I’ve been lucky enough to do that so obviously I’m a step closer to that goal,” he said. “But obviously I’ve still [got] a lot to achieve before something like that happens.

“Going into a year like this, especially the start of the season, I’m going to a lot of tracks I haven’t done before. It’s a new team and I think big expectations so it’s very exciting but I’m also expecting it to be the toughest year that I’ve come into.”

Lawson has driven for Red Bull’s second team in the second half of the last two seasons. Of the tracks F1 will visit early in the season, Lawson has only previously visited them in junior categories, if at all. Melbourne, Shanghai and Montreal are among those which will be new to him.

“I’m very excited for Melbourne and I’m very excited for the start of the year,” he said. “There’s a lot of cool tracks that I haven’t done that I think I will enjoy, like Melbourne. China looks like a cool track, Canada is somewhere I’ve always wanted to drive.

“But I think the start of the year is going to be the hardest as well. Going to a bunch of tracks I haven’t done before starting the season, it’s going to be very, very tough.

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“I’ve only ever finished a season, I’ve never really completed one. So I think the start of the year is going to be the hardest. But I would say I’m also most excited to go to these new tracks.”

Going up against four-times world champion Verstappen in the same cars will be “extremely challenging”, Lawson predicts.

“But at the same time, there’s more opportunity than ever [having] someone like him as a team mate, somebody who’s been in this team for 10 years and obviously he’s just won the last four world championships,” he added. “There’s nobody better to align everything that I’m doing with because all of our data is going to be shared.

“For me, that’s a great opportunity to learn. There’s nobody better to learn, to improve [with]. So that’s exciting.

“But obviously at the same time, having somebody so quick and competitive is going to come with its challenges. So for me, it’s just about making the most of that.”