Liam Lawson prepared for major discovery after 'big F1 challenge'

Liam Lawson is anticipating the discovery of the true F1 pecking order in Australia after concluding his pre-season testing programme.

Lawson completed 167 laps in the second Bahrain test to make his total across testing 488, with his Racing Bulls team firmly in the middle of the field.

The team is clear of the backmarker Cadillac and Aston Martin teams, but ahead of Williams and in a gaggle with Haas and Alpine, but owing to the usual testing caveats, the true position in the pecking order is unknown. 

Reflecting on the "big challenge" of getting used to the new breed of machine, Lawson explained how the team was ticking off milestones in testing, which was a "big challenge."

"It is still very early days, and they're definitely very different to drive; it is a big challenge," Lawson told media, including RacingNews365.

"Obviously, the big thing this year is going to be reliability and trying to finish some of the races, because even here, we have run plans to try and achieve.

"I think just completing a run plan in a test like this is a good achievement with how difficult these new cars are.

"So, so far, it is okay, but performance-wise, it is very hard to know what everybody else is doing, but we'll find out pretty soon in Melbourne."