“Pretty shocking.” Liam Lawson himself describes his previous results – four Grands Prix after the restart at Racing Bulls after he was previously “degraded” by Red Bull.
“We have no points,” said Lawson after another sobering race in Miami. “Of course there are many variables in Formula 1, and bring a complete race together cleanly.
So far it is clear in public perception: Isack Hadjar is the most convincing at Racing Bulls. The French rookie regularly fought for points and has so far beat Lawson 4: 1 in qualifying (including sprint qualifying).
What the numbers don’t reveal
However, Lawson was braked twice through technical problems: the drag reduction system (DRS) made difficulties in Bahrain, in Miami it was the battery.
And of course statistics can be interpreted differently. One could argue that Lawson was even 0.048 seconds faster than Hadjar in the two regular qualifying sessions without technical problems.
Nevertheless: the situation is problematic. Hadjar’s average starting point (in the Grand Prix) is 11, Lawsons is 14.5. This makes it considerably more difficult to collect points on Sundays.
How Lawson was in the races
Lawson experienced a particularly tough race in Japan. There he fell back from 13th to 14th and finally came to the finish as 17th – among others by Jack Doohan and Nico Hülkenberg, overtaken by Carlos Sainz. Meanwhile, Hadjar achieved a strong eighth place.
The pace was better in Bahrain, but two time penalties after touch with Lance Stroll and Hülkenberg threw him back to 16th place (before Hadjar).
In Saudi Arabia, Lawson was in front of Hadjar for the first time in the starting line-up, but lost ground in the chaos of the start phase. His strategy with medium and hard tires demanded some overtaking maneuvers-but a 10-second penalty for an overtaking maneuver outside the route against Doohan threw him back from eleven to P12. Hadjar collected another point.
Finally, in Miami, a racing incident – again with Doohan – caused a rotary Lawson right after the start. His racing Bulls was damaged, the chance of points was gone. Lawson called the damaged car “quite horrible”.
What Lawson says himself
After the next frustrating race, Lawson looked exhausted, but his performance may look worse than it actually was. The previously sparse data indicate an overall balanced level of performance between him and Hadjar.
“In terms of feeling, I feel really comfortable in the car,” says Lawson. “The pace was mostly good, but unfortunately without results.”
What’s next? “Reset – as always. So you have to tick in motorsport. Further work, further improve,” says Lawson. “I don’t think something really has to change. Our approach for the weekend was really good. The car was quick, it will be clicking at some point.”
What does Lawson need now? Above all: no more collisions and no more punishments.