Liam Lawson, the 23-year-old New Zealand driver, is set to participate in the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai as part of his debut season with Red Bull Racing.
This event marks a significant milestone in Lawson’s career as he continues to adapt to the demands of Formula 1 and the pressure of being Max Verstappen’s right-hand man.
Lawson’s journey into F1 has been closely watched, especially after his pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit and performance during the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne last weekend.
Team Principal Christian Horner has expressed sincere confidence in Lawson’s abilities, acknowledging the steep learning curve he faces. Horner highlighted that Lawson’s lack of prior experience at specific circuits, such as Melbourne’s Albert Park and this weekend’s circuit in Shanghai, presents challenges. However, he emphasized that Lawson’s mental aptitude and character strength equip him to handle these obstacles well.
The Shanghai International Circuit, known for its demanding layout and technical corners, will test Lawson’s adaptability and skill. The track surface is brand-new. A resurfaced track means it is smoother, which will, therefore, significantly impact the tyres and the driver’s grip on the surface.
Practice 1 –
Lawson completed 23 laps during FP1, testing the medium tyres first and then swapping to the soft tyres. During the beginning stages of the practice session, Lawson was running on medium tyres with a 2.8-second gap behind the current FP1 leader, Piastri, who had run a lap time of 1.33.336s.
By the end of the practice session, Lawson was running on soft tyres, and he was only 2.1 seconds behind top FP1 driver Lando Norris, who topped the session with a lap time of 1.31.504. Lawson placed 18th and was only 0.347s behind teammate Max Verstappen, who finished 16th in the practice session.
During the FP1 session, it was noted that both Red Bull drivers were now running the same front wing and nose specs, compared to last weekend in Melbourne when Lawson was running different front wing and nose specs to Verstappen.
Christian Horner spoke to Sky Sports F1 commentators after FP1 about the session and Lawson’s performance and asked the million-dollar question: Is the second Red Bull car driveable for anyone other than Max? Is it more suited to the four-time world champion and his aggressive driving style?
Q. Can you explain the difference between your drivers at this stage?
“I think just experience. You know, obviously, it’s Liam’s first time here, and he’s feeling his way in; it’s a tall order for him on a sprint weekend, but he’s got that information now he’s done short runs and long runs, and now it’s all about low fuel for the qualifying coming up.”
Q. It was a tough weekend for Liam, who was in tough conditions in Australia. What did you say to him afterwards?
“I think you just got to pick yourself up and focus on the positives, and to me, he had the second fastest race lap, and yeah, you know it’s just a very difficult weekend, so it’s about turning the page, keep your head down, don’t look on social media and you know focus on the next race, we believe that he’s got the ability he just needs a bit of time.”
Q. Is the car simply better suited to Max, and can anyone drive the Red Bull other than Max?
“Yeah, Max is quite specific in what he wants from a car to make it fast, and that is generally a very positive front end on the car with very sharp turning, of course; the consequence of that is it will unsettle the rear of the car and that for a driver is tremendously confidence-sapping if you’ve got a loose rear end on these cars on the entrance of corners and so that’s where he excels that’s where you know he’s able to live on a knife edge of adhesion, and he’s just constantly asking for more and more front out of the car and of course that you’re always going to follow the direction of your faster driver and that leads the organization in terms of its development.”
Q. Liam has to be for your team, be able to see Max’s gearbox casing on the grid and his rear wing in the distance by the end of the Grand Prix. That’s what you need from him, picking up points to be there on the days when Max has a problem. How long will you give him to be able to do that?
“Look, there’s no specific time frame in that. I mean, obviously running a race on a circuit he’s never seen before, I think we have to be fair and give Liam time, and you know, I think he will get there, but we need to give him the backing and give him time, he’s in a highly pressured seat, and it doesn’t get any easier.”
Sprint Qualifying –
Liam had a promising start to SQ1, going 5th fastest on his first flying lap, only half a second off the quickest time and four-tenths of a second to Verstappen.
Unfortunately, Lawson’s second flying lap time was deleted due to track limits, leaving him in the bottom five cars by the end of the session. Most drivers improved their times, resulting in Lawson being eliminated in SQ1 and will start the sprint race in 20th place tomorrow. This was another devastating run for the Kiwi driver.
“Mate, I’m really sorry, but I just…I honestly couldn’t keep the tyres down (down in pressure),” said Lawson over his team radio
The Sprint Race is scheduled for tomorrow at 4 pm NZT, with Qualifying for the Grand Prix scheduled for later that night at 8 pm.
Header Image: Clive Mason/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool
