Liam Lawson dismisses importance of new 'Max Verstappen' F1 trick

Liam Lawson has played down the importance of F1's new gearbox trick, first used by Max Verstappen in Bahrain testing.

At the tight Turn 10 in Sakhir, Verstappen was the first driver to aggressively downshift all the way to first gear for the left-hander, which makes the car unsettled and loose at the rear under braking.

However, the higher revs this creates through the corner charges the batteries faster to allow for more electrical deployment on the next straight, something more important than ever with the new 50-50 split in power output from the engine from the internal combustion engine and beefed-up electrical systems.

Lawson, who is also using a Red Bull Powertrains engine like Verstappen, has played down the importance of the trick, believing the lower car speeds are also playing a part.

"Yeah, but I think the speeds are also a bit lower as well, we're driving with less speed into the corners this year because of less downforce," Lawson explained to media, including RacingNews365, when asked about the lower gear downshift technique.

"It is nothing out of the ordinary, because it is just natural, but it is early days. I think this stuff will become very natural the more we drive and later in the season. 

"The way we drove last year's cars was very different to 10 years ago, so it is constantly evolving. There is a lot to think about, but it'll come naturally.

"It is pretty tough to drive, especially [in Bahrain], as we have a lot of tyre degradation, and there is a lot more sliding going on this year, so it is tricky to drive.

"At the moment, there is a lot of learning and trying to optimise driving this car between short runs and qualifying with the battery management we have to do in the long runs. It's a learning curve."