“It’s very cutthroat": Red Bull prodigy reminisces threatening 6 am calls from Helmut Marko during his formative years

Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson claimed that the Austrian outfit's "cutthroat" approach towards their academy drivers was alarming during his formative years. Lawson will be racing for the Visa Cash App RB F1 team from this weekend's US Grand Prix, replacing Daniel Ricciardo.

The 22-year-old got the nod over the experienced driver from the Red Bull hierarchy after he impressed everyone with his five-race stint replacing the eight-time winner in the latter half of that 2023 season.

Lawson will have six races and three Sprints to impress Helmut Marko and the Austrian team, for an opportunity alongside Max Verstappen next year.

While appearing on the F1 Nation podcast, the RB driver spoke about his time with the reigning world champions in his junior days and reflected:

“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."

“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.”

Red Bull junior driver speaks about racing for RB in Austin

RB driver Liam Lawson admitted that it would be tough for him to perform straight away, in his first appearance at the US Grand Prix this weekend.

Speaking with New Zealand’s Newstalk ZB radio station, the Red Bull prodigy claimed that despite doing simulator work, he was aware of the size of the job at hand, saying, via F1.com:

“It’s going to be tough to jump in. Austin I haven’t done before, either, so even though I’ve done plenty of sim work it’s going to be a big challenge. Obviously, I’ve been training like crazy all year to try and be ready for something like this, but even the few tests that I’ve done this year, there’s nothing like being race fit and it’s going to be challenging in Austin.”

Liam Lawson joins the Faenza-based outfit at a critical juncture given they are involved in an intense battle with the Haas in the Constructor's Championship for P6, as they lead the American team by a mere three points.