Red Bull Racing reserve Liam Lawson says his campaign this year in Super Formula is proving very useful for his F1 ambitions given the similarities between the two categories in terms of aero and set-up work.
Despite finishing runner-up to Felipe Drugovich in last year's FIA Formula 2 Championship, Lawson was denied a promotion to Formula 1. Instead, Red Bull opted to send the Kiwi to Japan for a full season in the competitive Super Formula series with Team Mugen.
The 21-year-old hit the ground running in the country of the rising sun, winning the series' opening race at Fuji.
Since, Lawson has claimed two more wins and currently sits second in the championship but just one point behind leader Ritomo Miyata, with three rounds to go.
"It’s been really cool," Lawson told Speedcafe. "It’s very different to what I’ve been doing for the last four years, obviously, being in and around the Formula 1 paddock, and F3 and F2.
"Racing in Japan, working with Japanese teams definitely took a little bit to get used to, but it’s been very, very cool."
In terms of sheer performance, Super Formula's ultra-competitive machines are closer to Formula 1 than Formula 2, but also offer a degree of technical sophistication that is similar to the former.
"Formula 1 will always be the pinnacle, but it’s simply a lot closer," Lawson said. "Not just in terms of raw speed, with the way the car behaves as well.
"The stuff you’re actually working on with the car, mechanically and set-up-wise with aero as well; it’s really, really sensitive to ride heights and things like that, like Formula 1 is.
"You don’t get that sensitivity in F2.
"So in terms of the things that I’m learning as a driver, on the car set-up and things like that, it’s stuff that’s a lot closer – we don’t have the battery systems, the MGU-K stuff we’re not working with, but just in terms of just aero and the car, it’s similar to Formula 1."
Those similarities are helping Lawson crucially fast-track his technical knowledge.
"When I first went there and we were changing stuff on the car, I didn’t know half the stuff we were doing because you’re doing much more simple things in Formula 2," he explained.
"I think that’s why it’s such a big step to Formula 1, why it’s almost too big I think, and why quite often people struggle more doing it because it’s so big, trying to learn everything.
"Fortunately for me, being in a reserve driver position, doing lots of work with the team back in Milton Keynes, I get to sort of have an entry into the Formula 1 world without the driving side, but I’m still learning all this stuff behind the scenes."
©Instagram/LiamLawson
Overall, his experience in Japan this season is not only keeping him active but will also prove extremely valuable for his future, and hopefully for a transition to F1.
"The regulations are much more open, the teams do much more development with the car," he said, comparing Super Formula to F2.
"They’re much bigger as well, so you’re working with a lot more people, more engineers, more mechanics.
"You’re obviously the main class on the weekends as well, so you have a bit more track time.
"And then the experience as well, racing against the drivers you are versing, it’s very high level – there’s guys who’ve been there for, some of them, 10 or more years.
"So it’s been different, but it’s definitely a step up to what I’ve been doing in the past."
Lawson's next round of racing in Japan will take place at Motegi on August 18-20.
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