Liam Lawson offers response to Max Verstappen 'numb' F1 car claim

Liam Lawson says he can understand where Max Verstappen is coming from with his view that he and Yuki Tsunoda have adjusted quickly to their new F1 cars, but not fully.

Lawson has been temporarily promoted to Red Bull since the Dutch GP as Isack Hadjar continues his recovery from a broken wrist sustained during the summer break, with Tsunoda drafted in to replace the New Zealander in turn. 

Lawson has scored a sixth, a seventh, and a 14th from his three races, whilst Tsunoda picked up a point in the Italian GP at Monza in just his second race in the new generation of car, which features high level of energy management owing to the design of the new power units.

Because of this, senior Red Bull driver Verstappen has explained that he feels the cars are "numb to driver inputs" and that the "immediate competitive" performances were related to the 2026 machines being easier to drive as drivers were placed "in a choke-hold" and that they were "held back" from performing at their best. 

Verstappen did concede that "you still have to do a good lap and commit" as Lawson explained he could understand where his team leader was coming from, but did not necessarily agree. 

"I don't know, I mean, it is something that the cars in general, they're not simpler because they're actually quite complicated in the way that you to [drive], the way the energy is," Lawson told media, including RacingNews365, when asked if he agreed with Verstappen's assessment.

"I can understand it as there are things that are maybe less in our control in the way the energy is [managed], but at the same time, it is myself and Yuki who have jumped in these cars.

"We're the only ones that know what it's like to try and get up to speed in the new car, so it is definitely not a simple thing.

"You could say, yes, maybe getting up to speed and the gaps between the teams are a bit bigger this year, and they haven't been that big recently; it's been pretty tight, so you could look at it like that and say: 'Okay, maybe they're a little bit simpler to get up to speed.

"But there are many things that I have personally in my own [Racing Bulls] car that I've got used to over the last year and a half that I've liked that I can't just go and apply in a car like this."

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Lawson explains Red Bull vs Racing Bulls difference

Lawson then went on to explain how some creature comforts in his Racing Bulls machine were not present in the Red Bull cockpit he's currently occupying.

"There are things that haven't been very comfortable with in the last few races that I've been trying to almost drive around, and those are things that are not just simple on paper that you would that you would see," he continued.

"But just a personal driver thing: everybody has things in their own car that they're comfortable with. 

"So I think as much as maybe all the cars are okay to jump in and drive, and maybe they are reasonably simple to get up to speed, it's that kind of stuff that I've been trying to get my head around in the last couple of weeks that are different from my car."