Liam Lawson has said diving straight into an action packed triple-header with Racing Bulls has helped keep his mind off losing a Red Bull Formula 1 drive.
Lawson was replaced by former team-mate Yuki Tsunoda after just two disastrous race weekends for Red Bull, having felt he needed more time to gel with the difficult to drive 2025 RB21.
The New Zealander had little time to reflect on the switch, going straight into a brutal Japan-Bahrain-Saudi Arabia triple-header in which he has made steady progress adjusting to his new car - but is yet to score points and consistently match team-mate Isack Hadjar.
Tsunoda has also found Red Bull's car challenging to drive though, yet the Japanese driver has been able to find a much more competitive baseline of performance thus far.
Reflecting on Red Bull's most brutal driver swap yet, Lawson says F1's triple-header has mentally helped him keep his focus on racing rather than mulling over the swap.
"I think it depends on how you look at it. Honestly, you want more time to go through things but in some ways it was probably good for my head just to be racing, and having no time to really think about anything else," the 23-year-old said ahead of this weekend's Miami Grand Prix.
"It was just three weeks in a row driving a car, and that was probably good for me. But obviously it's been useful now to have a week off to be able to process everything that we've just been through and then come back here with an even stronger mindset.
“To have a couple of days off was nice. It's been obviously a pretty intense few months, and especially with the triple header. Everything that happened is obviously something that I can't change."
Lawson feels he is starting to click with the team's VCARB 02, with it now down to finding the final tenth of performance that has been so crucial in 2025's extremely condensed midfield.
His previous two late-season cameos - 2023 and 2024, replacing Daniel Ricciardo both times - with the Anglo-Italian team means Lawson is encountering a range of circuits he has never raced at before, including Miami.
"I'm working on trying to maximise the car, going through three very different tracks that we've just raced at, and coming here trying to understand as best I can before I've driven the track," he mused.
"I felt really comfortable in Jeddah. I felt comfortable in Bahrain as well, honestly. Comfort wise I'm there, it's just about learning and maximising new tracks.
“With how F1 is this year, the difference between one and two tenths can knock you out of Q1 or put you in Q3, which is really, really tough. But it's what's making the racing quite exciting as well."
