Lawson: “Verstappen has full confidence with the RB20, he kisses the walls”

Lawson impressed by Verstappen

A few days after the weekend of Saudi Arabian Grand Prix he returned to commentate on the last weekend of the world championship Liam Lawson, reserve driver for Racing Bulls and Red Bull. The New Zealander, who last year took part in 5 Formula 1 GPs replacing Daniel Ricciardo in the then AlphaTauri (obtaining 2 points in Singapore), is now involved in the Japanese Super Formula championship, but underlined an aspect that made him particularly impressed in the turn he allowed to Max Verstappen to conquer the pole position.

The kiss on the walls

More than the gap that the Dutchman managed to leave behind his direct pursuer Charles Leclerc, who was more than three tenths behind, the 22-year-old underlined the total confidence that the three-time world champion has in his RB20. Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Lawson in fact analyzed Verstappen's aggressive and at the same time precise driving style, which led him to 'kissing' the protections on more than one occasion without suffering damage to his car.

Where?

Going into more detail, the young New Zealander analyzed the precise points where this happened: “At the moment Max is definitely comfortable with Red Bull – commented – the best way to see it is that, if you look at his qualifying lap in Jeddah, he doesn't miss a corner and comes close to the wall in some places. I'm pretty sure that touched him on the inside of turn 4which is extremely difficult to do, because you have to be really precise. But it's not just turn 4, it's also the curve 10the 22, it's everywhere. Basically it is very preciseand it's because he has a lot of confidence with the car, and it's these things that really make the lap time.”

Domination even in qualifying?

Details that could further increase Red Bull's competitiveness in qualifying, in addition to that already demonstrated in the race both in 2023 and in these first two tests of the season. Last year, if we exclude Sainz's victory, the RB19 won all the other races on the calendar, but achieved 'only' 14 pole positions, of which 12 were scored by Verstappen. Will Adrian Newey's new masterpiece be able to generate another record-breaking car in qualifying too?