Liam Lawson has spent the best part of a fortnight jumping between two Formula 1 cars that apparently have almost nothing in common beyond the badge on the engine cover. His verdict on the difference between the Red Bull and the Racing Bulls machinery is refreshingly blunt: everywhere.
Lawson is back in the senior car for a second successive weekend after Isack Hadjar was ruled out again with a hand injury sustained ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix. Red Bull turned to Lawson at Zandvoort and has done the same for Monza, meaning the New Zealander now has a genuinely unusual insight into two cars occupying very different points of the same championship table.
Not Just a Power Unit Swap
It would be easy to assume that stepping from a Racing Bulls car into a Red Bull is simply a case of finding a bit more grunt from the same power unit. Lawson says that is nowhere near the full story.
“Other than the power unit, obviously, they are very different to drive. I think the main thing is the Red Bull, the high-speed grip is the most impressive thing, just coming from my car.” – Liam Lawson
He went further, describing the fundamental character of the two cars as barely comparable once you get past the badge.
“The way they drive, the balance of the cars are just very, very different. Without saying too much, it is a very different car to drive. The feedback I get through the steering, the way it feels, the way it moves around is very different.” – Liam Lawson
That is not the sort of thing a driver says lightly about two cars built under the same roof, and it rather undermines the tidy narrative that Racing Bulls exists as a scaled-down feeder version of the senior team. If the high-speed grip and the steering feedback are genuinely worlds apart, the junior squad’s job of preparing drivers for a step up looks considerably harder than the marketing suggests.
Late Notice, Two Sets of Engineers
Lawson only found out on Wednesday that he would be strapped back into the Red Bull for Monza, as first reported by Crash.net. Before that, he had spent the build-up to the Italian Grand Prix hedging his bets, working with both Hadjar’s engineers at Red Bull and his own crew at Racing Bulls in case the call never came.
“For the last week it’s been just waiting to see, obviously trying to give Isack the best chance for his recovery. But I think in the back of my mind I knew that there was still a chance. Only being on Wednesday, it felt quite late, but we had enough time to still do a simulator session and normal prep for the weekend.” – Liam Lawson
Preparing for both cars simultaneously, in a sport where split-second muscle memory matters more than almost anything else, sounds like a logistical headache rather than good fortune. Lawson admitted as much, describing the constant back-and-forth as the hardest part of the whole saga.
“It’s not the easiest thing going between the two, even just in the simulator. But honestly, that’s been the biggest challenge, but it’s nice to have had an answer since Wednesday to know I can just put all my focus onto this car.” – Liam Lawson
Given how differently he describes the two cars behaving, that is not false modesty. Switching between machines with contrasting balance and steering feel, in the simulator and then for real on a Formula 1 weekend, is the kind of ask that would rattle plenty of more experienced drivers.
What This Means for Hadjar and Red Bull’s Planning
Hadjar’s continued absence, now stretching to a second race, leaves Red Bull leaning once again on a driver who technically belongs to its sister outfit. It is a workable short-term fix, but it says something about the depth of Red Bull’s driver pool that the emergency plan involves shuttling a driver between two cars that, by his own account, share little beyond their branding.
Lawson sits well down the standings this season, on 49 points to Hadjar’s 68, and neither is remotely in the title conversation given Kimi Antonelli‘s commanding lead at the top. But that is beside the point this weekend. What matters is whether Red Bull’s stopgap arrangement can deliver a result while Hadjar recovers, and whether Lawson’s unusual dual preparation leaves him sharp enough to do it.
Qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix gets underway at 14:00 UTC on Saturday, with the race following at 13:00 UTC on Sunday, check the calendar for your local time. Lawson now knows which car he is in for the rest of the weekend. Whether that clarity translates into a result worth the upheaval is another matter entirely.
Red Bull will hope the answer is yes. But relying on a driver who spent a week deliberately trying to stay competent in two fundamentally different cars is not a plan anyone would choose if the alternative existed. It exists because it has to, and that alone tells you plenty about the state of Red Bull’s driver contingency options right now.
