Liam Lawson set for more F1 races

By Christopher Reive

Liam Lawson’s Formula One stint is set to continue.

After impressing in his debut last weekend, the 21-year-old Kiwi posted a new season’s best result for the second AlphaTauri car with an 11th-placed finish in the Italian Grand Prix this morning.

And now the 21-year-old looks likely to race at least the next event, and possibly another, with Red Bull confirming Daniel Ricciardo will unlikely return from a broken left hand for the Singapore Grand Prix in two weeks.

In just two races since replacing the injured Ricciardo, Lawson has come away with better results than the Aussie (two races) and teammate Nyck de Vries (10 races), proving he is ready for the top level of the sport, while he equalled the best qualifying performance of the second AlphaTauri car this season by putting it 12th on the grid at Monza.

After the race, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner confirmed Ricciardo is unlikely to return for the Singapore Grand Prix or the following week in Japan, meaning another few races are on the cards for the Kiwi.

“Certainly Singapore, I don’t think there’s any chance he’ll be ready for then,” Horner said of the Aussie. “And I think it will be optimistic for Japan,” Horner said.

Horner had yet to review Lawson’s race in Italy but said he’d fitted in well.

“He did a solid job today. I haven’t followed his race that closely, they went for a two-stop, which was unconventional on today’s strategy.

“So, I’ll have to have a look at the analysis after the race. But I think he’s acquitted himself very well.”

There was a delay of about 20 minutes following the formation lap at Monza, as Lawson’s AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who was due to start 11th on the grid - was forced to withdraw on the formation lap due to a power unit failure, with smoke billowing up from his steering wheel.

Once Tsunoda’s car had been cleared, pole driver Carlos Sainz led the group on a second formation lap in his Ferrari, before racing finally began.

Whether it was due to the delay or the initial strategy, Lawson was among the minority of drivers to take a two pit stop approach to the 51-lap race, switching from medium to hard tyres early, before switching back to mediums late in the race in the hopes of finding some late pace.

Lawson drove a clean race, spending most of it just outside the top 10 and was ultimately left hoping for an error from a driver ahead of him if he was to secure points. It wasn’t to be, but he fought until the end, missing out on his first points by one position.

“A couple of things went wrong today, we need to look into the start, as I could have done a better job, and that’s where we lost the chance,” Lawson said.

“The pace wasn’t too bad then, but the race slightly got away from us. I’m still learning the procedures and definitely starting to feel more comfortable in the car, but I’m just a little bit disappointed with my race, as I think we may have had the pace for points today. I’m not sure though, so we need to look into it. These races are longer than I’m used to, so definitely adjusting, but I felt much more prepared than I did last weekend, so I’m happy about that.”

AlphaTauri are yet to confirm their driver lineup for 2024 and, with Ricciardo only with the team on loan from Red Bull until the end of this season, the young Kiwi has certainly given the powers that be plenty to consider as he looks for a fulltime opportunity next year and could get two more chances to impress at Singapore and Japan.

The race was won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who became the first driver to win 10th straight grand prix races. It also set a new team record, with Red Bull having won the last 15 consecutive GPs. Verstappen has won 12 of the 14 races this season, with his teammate Sergio Perez winning the other two. The last time a non-Red Bull car won a race was in Brazil last November, where Mercedes’ Geroge Russell stood atop the podium.

Perez finished second in Italy, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz beating out teammate Charles Leclerc for the last spot on the podium.