'It’s Normally A 6 am Phone Call'- Liam Lawson Recalls Working With Helmut Marko In Early Years

Young driver Liam Lawson will be back in a Formula One car from the American Grand Prix in Austin onwards. The New Zealand driver replaced former Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo in Red Bull's junior team VCARB. Daniel Ricciardo was removed from his seat at VCARB and in F1 due to him not being able to recreate the magic he had back when he was with Red Bull. Liam Lawson recently recalled what it was like working with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko during the new VCARB driver's early days coming into the sport. 

Liam Lawson On Working With Helmut Marko 

“For me, it was when I was 16 and 17 years old – my first year with Red Bull. Going from not being with a junior team, and just having my guys from New Zealand who had helped me get to where I was at that point, to then having Red Bull Racing and having Dr. Marko calling and putting the pressure on you, that was what I really struggled to deal with.

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“It’s normally a 6 am phone call, and it’ll be ‘you need to perform better, next weekend if you don’t perform better you’re in trouble’, you need to basically win races. It’s quite often, if you haven’t had a good race, ‘if this continues, you won’t have a future with this team’. It’s very cutthroat. But honestly, I’m so thankful to have gone through that with Helmut," stated Liam Lawson thanking Helmut Marko for having a cutthroat and extremely competitive outlook towards racing.  

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Liam Lawson will make his proper Formula One debut at the American Grand Prix in Austin , Texas. He has six races to prove himself and could be promoted to the Red Bull senior team based on performance.