Another factor that Lawson is having to adjust to is the increased focus on him off the track as well as on it.
“I’ve luckily had a bit of experience with it last year, so I’m better prepared for it,” the RB driver said. “It’s probably the one thing that us drivers don’t really do… There’s no real preparation for it, it’s something that you’re just kind of thrown into.
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“We’re doing all this work to try and be as ready to drive the car as fast as possible, and try and focus on just that, but as you said, the reality is there’s a lot of off-track attention. Even in the last three hours, I’ve been trying to sort of keep my mind off it a little bit, but my phone’s absolutely exploded and it’s something that I have to get used to.”
Despite the challenges ahead, Lawson is keen to get to work and has expressed his gratitude to those who have supported him in reaching this point.
“To everybody who’s stuck with me for all the years leading up to this, thank you,” he added. “Obviously it’s a huge journey and, for me, this is what I’ve dreamed of doing since I was a kid.
“Obviously now we have another mountain to climb going into the season and hopefully driving next year as well. Hopefully this is the start of F1 for me, but I just want to say thank you to everybody, because I appreciate it a lot.”
