F1 News: Max Verstappen's Encouraging Advice To Liam Lawson Ahead Of Dutch GP Debut

Max Verstappen told Liam Lawson to enjoy his F1 debut rather than overthink.

AlphaTauri reserve driver Liam Lawson revealed how Max Verstappen gave him much-needed motivational advice, just ahead of his Formula 1 debut during the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend at Zandvoort.

Lawson went on to replace Daniel Ricciardo after the Australian crashed into the barriers during FP2, thus causing a fracture in his left hand. He was taken to the hospital where he went through surgery. As a result, he will be missing in action for the Italian Grand Prix next weekend at Monza. 

Lawson made a pretty good debut in the Dutch Grand Prix under challenging conditions and managed to secure the 13th position ahead of AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda. He will continue to replace Ricciardo at Monza as well.

Lawson told Newstalk ZB that there was one person by his side before his challenging debut race, advising him as a motivational figure- Red Bull driver and championship leader Max Verstappen. Lawson revealed:

"Max has always been really, really good to me. I see him all the time and before the race he gave me some really nice advice as well: Just don’t over think it and try to enjoy it."

Lawson went on to give an account of how surreal it felt to be racing in an F1 car, just like a Formula 1 video game that he played as a kid when he was eight years old. He said:

“I got in the car before qualifying and I remember being a kid and playing the F1 game and one of the things is the loading screen.

"Just before you drive the car you get the options menu and you’re sitting in the car in this garage and there’s all these TV cameras in front of you and the team around you ... it was exactly like it was when I was eight years old playing F1 2010.”

Liam Lawson is Yuki Tsunoda's third teammate for this season after Ricciardo replaced Nyck De Vries a few weeks ago.