Lawson was dumped from Red Bull late last week following two difficult weekends to start the season.
Yuki Tsunoda will partner Max Verstappen at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, with Lawson, in turn, taking the local favourite’s place at Racing Bulls.
The change has been widely criticised, given the speed with which the New Zealander was first promoted – which in itself was a divisive choice.
“The car’s hard to drive,” Lawson told Sky Sports of his experience with the Red Bull RB21.
“We were going through a process of making that adjustment.
“For me, honestly, it’s time.
“In pre-season testing, you’re driving all day and you have loads of time to adjust.
“Honestly, a lack of time in the car is really the biggest thing for me that made it hard to adjust.
“It felt like each session we were going out, we were adjusting or getting used to something.
“It was a little bit unknown,” he added.
“It’s not so much a driving style or something like that; it’s just literally adjusting, and, for me, I just didn’t have the time to do that.”
His demotion to Racing Bulls has been considered by many as a saving grace.
While the RB21 has proved difficult, the Racing Bulls VCARB02 has shown itself to be far more compliant—as demonstrated by Isack Hadjar qualifying it inside the top 10 in only his second F1 weekend.
It’s also a team with which Lawson is more familiar, having raced for it 11 times over the past two years.
Not that those points offer any consolation to the 23-year-old.
“I would have loved the opportunity to go longer,” Lawson admitted.
“Right now, I’m focused on this.
“I’ve got the opportunity to still be in Formula 1. [Japan is] a place that I love, it’s a track that I love, I’m just excited to go.”
Expectations have also been revised this weekend.
While Tsunoda will be charged with getting close to Verstappen, Lawson will be expected to better Hadjar.
Racing Bulls has proved to be a solid midfield contender which, if everything goes well, could see a points-paying result on offer in Sunday’s race. A Q3 berth is also a possibility.
One or both of those results would mark the weekend out as a success.
It is that simple task, performing this weekend in Suzuka, that is motivating Lawson, and not proving Christian Horner and Helmut Marko wrong.
“Every weekend that we’re racing, we’re trying to do the best weekend,” he reasoned.
“Every single time I step in a race car, I’m trying to do the best I can.
“I’ll drive and take the weekend like I always do.
“Motivation is something I feel like I’ve never lacked, so that’s always been there as well.
“I’m just focused on getting up to speed quickly and scoring some good results.”
Opening practice for the Japanese Grand Prix begins tomorrow.
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