Christian Horner says Liam Lawson’s stand-in appearances in place of the injured Daniel Ricciardo have shown the New Zealander “deserves an opportunity” in the future and said the Qatar GP “certainly” will not be his last outing in F1.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Lawson has shown impressive pace and consistency since his late-notice F1 debut at the Dutch GP. Despite qualifying last in a very tough first session in changing conditions in Zandvoort, the New Zealander survived a chaotic race to finish in an impressive 13th place, just ahead of his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda (who had to serve a 5-second time penalty, it’s worth noting).
Then at the Italian GP, Lawson qualified just behind Tsunoda – who failed to start Sunday’s race after a fault in his AT04 on the formation lap – and just missed out on a points finish, coming home P11. He would likely have scored points had his start gone a little better – he lost three places off the line and spent most of the race recovering them.
But his luck finally changed at the Singapore GP, where an impressive qualifying performance meant he knocked Max Verstappen out of Q3 to qualify in an excellent 10th place, five spots higher than his more experienced team-mate. Then in the race he fought brilliantly to score a ninth place finish and two points for AlphaTauri.
In Japan, a similar scenario to Monza saw the 21-year-old just miss out on points in P11, but once again out-qualifying Tsunoda and finishing ahead of the home hero in the race. But Qatar proved to be a “very tough” affair for Lawson, as he retired from the Sprint on the opening lap after spinning off on his own, and then had contact with Lance Stroll in the main race and could only manage a lowly 17th, in what was his last – and worst, relatively – outing for now.
Speaking to selected media after the race in Lusail, Lawson explained he and the team “tried something with the car” during the weekend which didn’t work, and stated most of it came down to a general lack of pace in the car:
“We tried something with the car and it just didn’t work out. I really, really struggled throughout the race. So I guess something we need to look into,” he said. “We had a good start. I was next to Stroll and, I don’t know, he just didn’t really see me so swiped across in front of me.
“Then I lost two more spots so it was pretty frustrating there. But even if we made those spots, really we didn’t have the speed. So it was a tricky one.”
Lawson said it is “disappointing” to end his run in F1 for the time being in such a low-key manner, but is already looking forward to trying to secure the Super Formula title in late October to try and correct some of these wrongs:
“There’s definitely things that we’ll look into that I could probably improve on as well, which I’d like to find out,” Lawson added. “Obviously you want to go out on a high, so this is pretty tough to finish off on.
“It’s just something we need to look into. The first couple of races went really good, we were building up, and then this weekend I think we just struggled.
“The races up until this point were going pretty well, but this definitely doesn’t help that. I think it’s pretty disappointing to finish my run of races like this.”
Lawson stated that winning the Super Formula championship “very, very important” for him. “I think it can help make a huge impact on my career, especially with how this weekend’s gone.”
The 21-year-old has the backing of Red Bull Racing team principal and CEO Christian Horner, who said after the race in Qatar that he’s a “great sub” and reassured that this “certainly” won’t be his last outing in F1:
“I think he’s done a great job. Jumping in with zero mileage in the car and he’s equipped himself well as a Grand Prix driver. I think he’s caught all our attention in terms of the job that he’s done.
“It certainly won’t be his last race, that’s what I’m sure of. With what he’s done in these five races, I think that he’s demonstrated that he deserves an opportunity in the future.”
Horner stated Lawson’s 5-race stretch as a sub will allow Daniel Ricciardo return in full fitness at the next round in Texas. He said Ricciardo could’ve come back in Qatar, but is thankful it didn’t happen given the extreme weather conditions drivers had to face, which could’ve proved “testing” for the recovering Australian:
“I think we want to see him in full fitness. I think it was right to miss this race, particularly as it turned out the conditions that we had.
“I think Austin, it’s obviously going to be difficult for him to jump straight back into a sprint race weekend, but I’m sure he’ll be physically in good shape to take that on,” he said. “Of course he was wanting to come back. He has a contract secured for next year.
“[In] Liam [Lawson], we’ve got such a great sub. It was also a good way of giving him another Grand Prix without actually putting unnecessary pressure and potential longer-term damage on Dan to say, look, don’t overstretch it.
“As it turned out, the conditions that we had here could have been very testing for him. So I think that to have had that extra, if you like, 12 days in the run-up to Austin is the best preparation for it.”
