RB explain key Lawson change ahead of F1 return

Liam Lawson returns to F1 this weekend after a year-long wait for his second chance after making a fundamental change.

Lawson was thrown into F1's deep end last year with a five-race cameo in deputising for Daniel Ricciardo after the Australian broke a bone in his left hand in several places in practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.

Lawson's performances resulted in reassurances from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko that when a further opportunity arose, he would again be handed a drive.

In deciding to oust Ricciardo from the RB seat for the final six grands prix of the year, the New Zealander returns to partner Yuki Tsunoda at the United States Grand Prix.

Praising Lawson's composure, RB CEO Peter Bayer also highlighted an aspect of Lawson that will stand him in good stead for the six races.

"It's about growing as a young man, learning that patience can be a quality, even if we don't like it," said Bayer, in an exclusive interview with RacingNews365.

"Like the other day, we had a report from his trainer, that he has done a tremendous job this year in building up muscle strength, which he didn't have last year. So he's significantly stronger now.

"He's doing all the right things, and that's great for us to see that you have a young man who's taking this responsibility extremely seriously and he's not misguided.

"I come back to the fact he's a kid and you can have a manager, parents or sponsors misguiding him. You have to keep the focus, which is probably primordial in this business, and he's very good at that."

It has been suggested that the final six races, which take in Austin, São Paulo, Mexico City, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, could even be a shoot-out between Lawson and Tsunoda for the second Red Bull seat next year.

Although Sergio Perez has a contract for 2025 and an option for 2026, there are no guarantees, given how the Mexican has failed to deliver this year, playing a significant role in Red Bull potentially losing its constructors' title this year as it trails McLaren by 41 points.

Like many observers, Bayer saw last year how impressive Lawson was, and why he has been given his long-awaited second chance.

"I can only say, from what I've seen, that last year with Liam was impressive," said Bayer.

"He was getting a lot of information from the race engineers, digesting it, saving it in the right drawer, and that was it. Nothing had to be repeated.

"And he would steadily build, build, build. And I think that's our job, to build over a couple of years. Does he have the potential? Yes, otherwise he wouldn't be here."