Liam Lawson’s Formula 2 race at Imola ended after contact with the wall forced his retirement, though it was a mechanical failure that caused the contact.
Heading into the round at Imola, Lawson had finished on the podium in every race he completed so far this season.
“Something in the steering broke when I was coming up the hill and basically I just went straight, I couldn’t turn the car and hit the wall,” said Lawson.
“A bit disappointing but the positives are still there, the car is fast and if we get a little bit of luck and put everything together we’ll be on it.”
Lawson started the weekend at Imola sitting second in the championship, but a tough qualifying, left him starting from 14th on the grid.
The session saw tricky conditions, with traffic and yellow flags complicating the session, with Lawson unable to find a gap to put together a lap. Lawson was able to make some progress in the sprint race, climbing up to eighth.
The main race saw cars on a mix of strategies with Lawson among the drivers on the alternate strategy, starting on the medium compound tyres, hoping for a late-race safety car.
The strategy didn’t play out as the team hoped.
After a messy start to the race that saw the Safety car emerge, the race settled down, with the chance of a late safety car seeming to diminish cars started abandoning the alternative strategy, lawson falling to 16th.
“I had a really good start, went for a bit of a gamble on the strategy, and just basically got really unlucky with the safety car early on in the race when everyone boxed and we couldn’t get one in,” said Lawson.
Lawson climbed back to 13th before the crash that saw him retire from the race, dropping to fourth in the championship standings.
The Formula 2 field will be back on track 20-22 May at Barcelona, for the next round of the championship.
Main image: Formula 2