Grand Prix

Liam Lawson Details Red Bull Simulator Correlation Issues Amid RB21 Struggles

Nelson Espinal|
[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] March 23, 2025; Shanghai, CHINA; Liam Lawson during the F1 Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Go Nakamura/Reuters via Imagn Images
[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] March 23, 2025; Shanghai, CHINA; Liam Lawson during the F1 Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Go Nakamura/Reuters via Imagn Images | Go Nakamura/Reuters via Imagn Images

Liam Lawson has firsthand experience working with Red Bull Racing's simulator and has spoken about the correlation issues Red Bull is facing.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner stated that the team is facing simulator issues, as the car is not responding on track as it does in the simulator. This mismatch can lead to incorrect adjustments being made to the car, which may result in upgrade packages ultimately failing to produce the needed gains.

Lawson was asked about the simulator issues that have plagued the team and their effects on performance.

More News: Red Bull RB21 Struggling with 'Temperatures' at the Bahrain Grand Prix

"I think, to be honest, it feels like a little bit of a tricky year with tires, with setup. I think warm up, we've had very different conditions."

"We went from Japan being very cold to Bahrain being very hot and when you're trying to build a tyre up in the perfect way, that's a completely unique thing to work on."

"And you can't really simulate that in a simulator, so you're faced with a lot more real life conditions that you're not going to simulate."

"This year, that stuff that we maybe don't simulate has been more of a challenge than in past years. The car setup itself, we can simulate that."

"But it's really those other stuff that sometimes you can't actually really work on that can be quite difficult."

More News: Max Verstappen: RB21 'Too Slow' After Red Bull 'Struggle For Pace'

Last year, the RB20 faced challenges in car development because the simulator didn't replicate the conditions on the track accurately.

While factors such as weather cannot always be controlled, if the airflow in the wind tunnel or simulator does not closely match neutral conditions, it may hinder the team's progress.

"Sometimes the car's exactly, you know, you do your prep work before you roll the car out and it works exactly like you expect it to and how you expect the track to be and everything like that," Lawson said.

"And then you'll find tuning and sometimes you roll the car out and all of a sudden conditions are different to what you expect."

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Red Bull is currently building a new wind tunnel at its Milton Keynes office; however, it will not go online until 2027. This means the rest of the season and next year will rely on the performance and correlation of their current simulator.

For more F1 news, head over to F1 on SI.

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Nelson Espinal
NELSON ESPINAL

Nelson Espinal lives and breathes sports. Avidly following of everything ranging from motorsports to Mixed Martial Arts to tennis, he is connected with most of the sports world at all times. His dream of writing about sports started at 16 years of age, writing for a Lakers fans blog, and his passions for sports writing has grown since. He has his Bachelor's degree in Political Science, and a minor in writing literature from the University of California, San Diego.

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