Axed Red Bull driver Liam Lawson has denied the assertion that he was deprived of confidence after his two-round stint with the franchise at the start of the F1 season. Team principal Christian Horner partially justified the decision to switch the Kiwi for Yuki Tsunoda as part of the Milton Keynes squad's "duty of care" towards the 23-year-old. Lawson thinks that his time with Max Verstappen at Red Bull wasn't as bad as they're making it seem.
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Liam Lawson On Whether He Was Underconfident Following First Two Races of the Season
He spoke confidently when he returned to Racing Bulls before the Japanese Grand Prix but seemed to disagree with the 51-year-old about the sudden decision that surprised everyone in F1.
"I think confidence-wise it doesn’t change a lot," Lawson told media, including RacingNews365. "We all have enough self-belief to be here and to make it to Formula 1. If you don’t have that self-belief, it makes it very difficult.
"So I think we all have that naturally. It doesn’t really change how I feel about myself. I think what it’s doing for me… Obviously, the best opportunity I had felt like it was with Red Bull Racing. That’s what we’re all working towards.
"That’s what I was working towards since joining the junior programme as a 16-year-old. So obviously, I would have liked to make that opportunity work and that’s in my best interest.
"But obviously, Christian [Horner] and the team will have their opinions on what’s best, and that’s up to them to decide."
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Early F1 Promotion
When asked whether he had enough time in F1 under his belt prior to the jump up to Red Bull, he replied: "I think it’s easy to look at it in that way. They were not the smoothest of weekends and at tracks that were very new to me.
"So in some senses, yes, it was early. But at the same time, I think part of the reason they brought me in in the first place was to adapt quickly. And although that was tough - yeah, I guess you can say anything now the decision's been done...
"But it doesn’t change how I view it or how I view myself. I felt like I was ready, so although the weekends were tough, that doesn’t change."