Liam Lawson 'thankful' for brutal Red Bull F1 demand

Liam Lawson has explained why he is "thankful" for the pressure Red Bull places on young drivers to deliver after securing his F1 future.

The New Zealander will be on the 2026 grid with Racing Bulls, and will step up to the team leader role alongside Arvid Lindblad.

It is the first season in F1, Lawson will start with the team following his two half-seasons in 2023 and 2024 before his ill-fated step to Red Bull's senior team for this season.

The Red Bull programme is renowned for its brutal approach to drivers who do not perform, but Lawson believes this experience has provided pivotal learning.

"It's more known that there's quite a lot of pressure in this team, and Red Bull is known for trying to put drivers under that extra bit of pressure to try and see how we deliver," Lawson told media, including RacingNews365. 

"But it is something that we've experienced for quite a long time, and for me, being a junior when I was young, I've been with Red Bull for six years, since I was 17, and it wasn't at this level, but it felt like it at the time.

"That pressure, with conversations that you need to perform otherwise you don't have a future, that's the kind of stuff we were experiencing from a young age, and I think I am thankful now to have gone through that.

"Because when you have those kinds of moments, and through the year before being re-signed, it feels like that level of pressure I've actually dealt with before."