Lawson: I have no doubt that it will be tough for us in Suzuka.

      Liam Lawson performed quite well at the Chinese stage of the season, finishing 7th in both races of the weekend and earning 8 points, but he anticipates that repeating this success in Japan will be challenging. However, the New Zealand Racing Bulls driver does not hide that there were difficulties at the previous stage in China as well.

      Liam Lawson: "To be honest, at the beginning of the weekend in Shanghai, we weren't that fast and performed poorly in qualifying (in the sprint qualifying, Liam showed the 13th fastest time, and based on Saturday's qualifying, he started the Grand Prix from 14th position).

      Undoubtedly, the Shanghai track did not suit our car, but we managed to achieve the best possible result, that's for sure. Before the race, we were hoping to at least make it into the top ten and did not expect to finish in 7th place. Of course, we were helped by the retirements of several cars that started ahead of us, but I believe we could have scored points anyway, so that weekend turned out quite well.

      I have no doubt that it will be tough for us in Suzuka, especially since the car setups will change this weekend, and we will need to adapt to that. The new cars require a completely different approach to driving, and you have to act differently on each track.

      The difference is that if before we spent practice sessions searching for the optimal balance, now we mainly spend time learning how to properly manage energy consumption, as this significantly affects lap times. During the races, we also have to act differently, especially when trying to overtake competitors. We are still learning all of this.

      I admit, all of this is quite challenging, but we have to get used to it. Compared to previous seasons, any mistake now leads to more serious consequences, for example, if you consume too much energy or something similar happens. I would say that now, during the driving process, you have to think a lot more.

      The difficulty is that you can easily overdo it. I believe that last year in qualifying, we tried to push as much as possible, and it depended on how much downforce the car could generate. You achieved the necessary level of grip and started to attack, and although there was also a risk of making a mistake, participating in qualifying was very exciting.

      But this year, there is a high risk of doing something wrong; for example, in Melbourne, in the final qualifying session, I had to run on a used set of tires because on all previous laps, when I tried to attack, it led to mistakes... On the Suzuka track, primarily due to the characteristics of its configuration, we won't be able to effectively use the Straight Mode, so, of course, maintaining the battery charge at the required level will be even more challenging."