Liam Lawson has admitted that it’s been “a crazy couple of weeks” in his life as an F1 driver, and “not the most enjoyable” period following his demotion from Red Bull to Racing Bulls.
The 23-year-old was looking forward to making his mark at Red Bull Racing alongside reigning world champion Max Verstappen.
But a succession of disappointing races in Australia and in China, where the Aussie was each time a country mile off his teammate’s pace, prompted a swift reaction from Red Bull’s top brass, who judged that it would be in the young driver’s interest to undergo a reset at Racing Bulls, and swap seats with Yuki Tsunoda.
However, the sudden and unexpected move came as a big surprise to Lawson.
“I had no idea in China – it was something that was decided I guess the Monday or Tuesday afterwards," Lawson said ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix last week.
"I found out after China, basically. It was I think for all of us probably more unexpected, but it was after the weekend.”
The timing seemed odd, with Suzuka being a track he has plenty of experience at after his time in Japan's Super Formula.
"That was something I was obviously looking forward to from the start, to be honest, to go to a track that I've been to before," he admitted.
"Just have a proper sort of preparation, and I now have that. So it's exciting to be here [in Suzuka] at a track that's one of my favourite tracks to drive on. So yeah, I'm very excited."
In Japan, Lawson lined up in P13 on last Sunday’s grid but concluded his afternoon 17th, while his RB teammate Isack Hadjar delivered a remarkable 8th place finish.
Ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, where he will once again perform in a familiar environment, Lawson acknowledged that the most satisfying part of his current situation is simply the fact that he’s still on the grid.
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“Yeah, I thought I was pretty happy last week to be fair," he joked. "I don't know, I think... yeah, I'm happy, I'm happy to be racing.
“I think the best thing about all of this is obviously it's been a crazy couple of weeks and months and a lot of it has been not the most enjoyable.
"So the fact that I'm racing each weekend at the moment is probably the best thing for me. 'Cause it just means I can focus on driving."
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