Liam Lawson (R) and Christian Horner (C) at the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia - Source: Getty
Red Bull's Christian Horner has shared that the team is looking to protect Liam Lawson from expectations that pressure a young driver. The Kiwi will replace Sergio Perez on the team after the Mexican was released from his contract earlier than the stipulated timeline.
As quoted by RacingNews365, Horner acknowledged that on the team's side too, a level of work needs to be done where the car would have a bigger operating window than its previous iteration. The Red Bull boss also emphasized the need to protect Lawson from expectations that hampered young drivers like Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon in the past. He said:
"Daniel and Max (Verstappen) were a strong pairing, we then had two juniors that struggled and that's why Checo [Perez] stepped into the car for the 2021 season, and coped with the pressure. The other factor we're focused very hard on is making sure that we're creating a wider operating window with the RB21 than the RB20, which was very narrow and was a peaky performance window. For us to create a broader window will hopefully help Liam find a more forgiving car than the RB20 could be on occasion.
