Racing Bulls chief tells Liam Lawson what to work on in ‘fantastic step’ assessment

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane has told Liam Lawson he needs to “eliminate mistakes” as a driver rather than try to increase his outright pace.

This time 12 months ago, Lawson was reeling from the sudden demotion from Red Bull after just two races but the New Zealander has found his feet at Racing Bulls.

Liam Lawson given area of improvement by Racing Bulls

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After the whirlwind at Red Bull, Lawson did well to settle back into life at Racing Bulls, going on to finish the season with 38 points and 14th in the standings.

He has started this year even stronger, picking up 10 points in the first three races to place him 10th in the standings.

Even if a return to Red Bull seems unlikely, at 24 years of age, Lawson still has a long F1 career ahead of him and his boss has given him some tips on how to improve.

“I said it many times, and I say again with Liam, I see immense talent there. Really. Some of his performances last year were outstanding,” Permane told PlanetF1.com and other outlets.

“What he needs to do, and what he is doing so far, is eliminate mistakes.

“We can’t be qualifying third on the grid one weekend and then out in Q1 the following weekend. That sort of thing. And he knows that. And he’s working hard to ensure that doesn’t happen.

“And if he doesn’t improve his top level, if he just eliminates the bad level and lifts everything up to what we know he’s capable of, that will already be a fantastic step. And that’s the next thing to build.

“But I’d much rather he works on… not worked on the absolute pace, because I think that’s there – it’s working on the consistency, which he’s doing.”

As for the driver, he commented that Racing Bulls have not even been that quick, raising his hopes they will be even faster in the future.

“I think, to be honest, we haven’t actually been that fast, but still managed to come away with three points finishes,” Lawson claimed to the media following the Japanese Grand Prix.

“So I think it’s when we get a really quick car, we’ll obviously be in a much better place. And if we keep making the decisions we’re making, I think it’s quite exciting.”

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