On his return to Formula 1 racing in Austin, Liam Lawson did exactly what his predecessor failed to do: Put the team’s regular driver Yuki Tsunoda firmly in the shade.
A sprint weekend was always going to be a tricky event for Lawson to debut at, as he had only one hour of practice before the first qualifying session. However the fact he would have to take a grid penalty in the grand prix for a power unit replacement reduced some of the pressure on him.Lawson called his sprint race qualifying effort “scrappy” and lined up 15th on the grid. His race to 16th was a mixed bag: Though he was always going to lose a place to Oscar Piastri he performed a superbly opportunistic pass on Fernando Alonso, then successfully repelled the two-times champion’s attacks.
However Esteban Ocon caught Lawson napping at turn 15 and passed him, to Alonso’s enormous frustration, leading him to have words with the RB driver after the race. Alonso marked Lawson’s card as the qualifying session began, but it failed to knock him off his stride, and the beginning of the serious action was the point at which the returnee really started to shine.
That would be pointless conjecture had Lawson tried to set a better time in Q2 and failed. However he did not make an attempt at a lap time in the session because of the power unit penalty which condemned him to start at the back. Instead RB used him to provide a slipstream to Tsunoda, who even with that help and the benefit of track evolution worth four-tenths of a second on average, failed to beat Lawson’s time. That was a big win for Lawson.
In the race he climbed from 19th on the grid to score two points for ninth place. This was a remarkable drive – only twice this year have drivers gained more than 10 places from start to finish, and they had much more competitive cars. George Russell made up 14 places on Sunday and Lando Norris gained 11 in Baku.
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Lawson certainly benefited from the cards falling in his favour, but he also took full advantage of the opportunities which fell his way. One of five drivers to start the race on hard rubber instead of mediums, he immediately gained four places at the start as he took to the run-off to avoid the fracas between Ocon and Alexander Albon. He then picked off the second Williams of Colapinto at the exit of turn 11.
With that Lawson was in a strategically advantageous position: He was now the leading driver on the hard tyre compound. Despite having harder rubber than Alonso, Lawson picked off the other Aston Martin five laps later with what must have been a particularly gratifying move after the previous day’s events.
Aside from the recovering George Russell passing him on lap 21, Lawson rose towards the front of the field as the medium-shod runners pitted. By half-distance he was running seventh, from where RB pulled him in with 20 laps to go for a set of medium compound tyres.
From there he breezed past Gasly, on very worn tyres, with little difficulty. His pace over the final stint could have been better – Colapinto was almost within DRS range of him by the finish – but Lawson’s fine efforts in the first part of the race ultimately earned him a ninth place finish, RB’s best result in seven rounds.
Lawson’s performance shone even brighter in contrast with Tsunoda’s poor afternoon. After gaining two places at the start, Tsunoda joined the likes of Gasly and Kevin Magnussen in pitting early for hards, which did not pay off. But if Lawson made the best of a favourable strategy, Tsunoda exacerbated a poor one, spinning at turn one and collecting a penalty for forcing Albon off.
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But Lawson’s real objective is the seat held by Perez, and once again he did not cover himself in glory. Perez failed to reach the final round of qualifying for the sprint race, lost his only lap time in Q3 to a track limits infringement, and was beaten to the chequered flag by Russell, who started in the pits and had a five-second penalty.
“We made a really good step up with the car yesterday, which we hoped would replicate in the race today and thankfully it did. The car was really strong and it did exactly what we hoped it would do.
“The hard [tyre] works well for us, and we had good pace too. When I boxed and we got some clean air we were able to keep extending longer than we’d planned and I think for me, doing yesterday’s sprint, I took notes from what others were doing, which really helped.”
His efforts were all the more impressive considering the Circuit of the Americas was an unfamiliar venue for him and prior to this weekend his most recent race was in last year’s Super Formula season finale at Suzuka almost a full year ago.
RB were full of praise for his efforts. Team principal Laurent Mekies praised his “very well-executed race,” saying he had “done a great job all weekend.”
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“With Liam starting at the back due to the PU penalty it was always the plan to target a long first stint on the hard tyre,” said technical director Jody Egginton. “However the pace he has been able to run at for the entire stint was very strong, allowing him [to] pass a few cars on-track and overcut some more.
“He has been rewarded with points in his first race back with us, which is a credit to him and a reward for the team for all the hard work put in here in Austin and also in Faenza and Bicester over the last period.”
Lawson’s first weekend back was far from flawless. But under the circumstances the team could not realistically have hoped for much better.
He certainly had the best weekend of any of the four Red Bull-backed drivers who isn’t Max Verstappen. On Sunday Red Bull team principal Christian Horner again acknowledged Perez is not delivering at the level they need, and Lawson has surely taken his first step towards making himself an obvious replacement.
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2024 United States Grand Prix
- McLaren insist stewards made ‘provable error’ after losing bid for review of Norris’ penalty
- Why McLaren’s focus on Verstappen’s driving failed to overturn Norris’ penalty
- Stewards reject McLaren’s request to review Norris’ United States GP penalty
- McLaren know Norris’ penalty is likely to stand – so what do they hope to gain?
- McLaren request review of Norris’ penalty for off-track pass on Verstappen
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd October 2024, 7:30
Indeed, although just because he out-performed Tsunoda at COTA doesn’t mean he’ll necessarily out-perform him over the next five rounds as well, but more likely than the other way around.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
22nd October 2024, 8:49
Regardless what happens, this was a cold shower for Yuki. They started the race far apart (through no fault of Liam ofcourse) and finished also pretty far apart, but in opposite directions.
There’s just no excuses for Yuki nowadays: much more experienced in his 4th season already, 9 positions ahead of his teammate at the start, going for the preffered tyre strategy, and he still ended up outside the points with 30+ seconds behind Lawson.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd October 2024, 8:58
Indeed. Liam may have eventually received a more favorable strategy, but ultimately, he still out-performed on merit, given he started 9 positions lower & Yuki made lots of unforced errors rather than anything out of his control magnifying matters.
Stephen Taylor
22nd October 2024, 9:13
@Jere So you expect Tsunoda to outperform Lawson going ? I wouldn’t be sure of that. Did you forget how he performed when he came in last year?
GechiChan (@gechichan)
22nd October 2024, 8:57
If not for the incredible Hulk, who’s driving the best season of his career, Liam would have been Best of the Rest in a race he started last on the grid. No small feat in his first ’24 race, in a car that usually looked quite dissapointing in other drivers’ hands.
AlexS
22nd October 2024, 17:18
I think Lawson was better than Hulk considering where he started.
Dan Rooke (@geekzilla9000)
22nd October 2024, 9:01
F1 has some great new talent at the moment. Lawson and Colapinto are really exciting drivers during the race. Colapinto really feels like ‘one to watch’ and Lawson may well be too. I hope we get similar from Bearman and Antonelli; the future of F1 seems to be in a good place. I didn’t dislike Mick Schumacher, but he just never seemed particularly dazzling on track.
Sometimes a driver just impresses when they have that spark. Verstappen did it, Hamilton did it, Leclerc did – even Perez did it in the Force India, and I used to love watching Kobayashi for the same reason. Not all become greats, but while they’re providing great racing it lifts the sport.
Asd
22nd October 2024, 12:02
F1 has rusty old geezers that make it easy for their replacements to look good!
Ricciardo had been washed for a long time. Perez should be driving in Mexican GT3 championship. The Chinese guy is bad, maybe Yuki is bad too?
Then you’ve got Magnussen who’s getting outmatched by old Hulkenberg. And Hulkenberg got beaten both in qualifying and race in Baku by Olly Bearman who drove his 2nd F1 race.
AlexS
22nd October 2024, 17:19
All good points. And next year will be the Alonso and Hamilton in spotlight.
MichaelN
22nd October 2024, 9:05
It’s quite apparent that Tsunoda has not actually improved. All the nice words and endless patience are just masking that he will be there as long as Honda is.
He’s still the Tsunoda that got nowhere near Gasly. His teammates just got worse. Red Bull will have seen this on their data. Ricciardo needed to not match, but thoroughly demolish Tsunoda to be even considered for a promotion.
Let’s see how Lawson does in the next races. One race is still one race.
notagrumpyfan
22nd October 2024, 12:22
Probably very true.
But notwithstanding this, it seemed extremely difficult for Perez to overtake him this weekend even on fresher tyres and in a faster car.
I can’t be long before something will need to move for that team as well.
Ideals (@ideals)
22nd October 2024, 18:51
I wouldn’t at all be surprised if we hear Perez’ inevitable retirement announcement this weekend or his general sacking after this weekend sometime soon.
Either way, we’re about to have a WDC from a team that will likely end up third in the WDC. There’s no scenario where that isn’t Perez’ fault or where you could favorably spin it to be anyone else’s in that team. I don’t see how he can keep his position in the team.
mooa42
23rd October 2024, 2:09
There is not a hope in hell that RedBull would announce Perez being replaced while they are in Mexico, it may well be his last race, or second last race, for RedBull but it wouldn’t be announced when they are anywhere near Mexico, there would be riots in the streets.
At least if they swapped Perez and Lawson after Mexico the only expectation from RedBull on Liam would be to do better than Perez. It would just be a matter of the pressure and expectation that Liam might put on himself.
Kerry Maxwell (@kerrymaxwell)
23rd October 2024, 16:00
Do you think Red Bull would in effect say “To all our Mexican fans… drop dead”?
Accidentally reported in replying. Why there is no confirmation after clicking “report comment” seems like exceedingly poor design.
Ludewig
24th October 2024, 11:16
Perez has trouble overtaking everyone.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
22nd October 2024, 9:22
I’m reserving judgement on both Colapinto and Lawson for now.
I think both were very impressive on Sunday but I’ve long suspected their teammates are distinctly average. Albon in particular has fallen off a cliff.
Regarding Lawson, he had a favourable strategy but kept his nose clean in the GP. In the the sprint and in sprint quali he was untidy. Like Colapinto he’s putting the car roughly where I’d expect it to be.
At the midseason rankings I expressed my concerns about Tsunoda. In the past 10 races with Daniel as teammate he beat Ricciardo 3 times and they qualified 5-5. Not exactly sparkling form compared to a driver who was sacked. He was then outperformed in quali and the race (and spun) by someone who hasn’t been in a racing car for a year. The contract for Tsunoda was premature, I’d have Lawson and Hadjar in there next year. Now Hadjar will have a year on the sidelines or will replace Lawson if he replaces Perez, leading to the Albon/Gasly doom cycle on repeat. The problem was not bringing Daniel back, it was rewarding Yuki with a deal for a good start to the season and finish to last year against ill prepared teammates.
Stephen Taylor
22nd October 2024, 9:34
Wow you are hard to please!
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
22nd October 2024, 21:58
I think the reason I’m critical of these guys is that we’re at another change season like 2018 where a new crop arrive. Colapinto, Lawson, Bearman, Antonelli, Hadjar and Bortaletto all look F1 ready for me. That’s 30% of the grid without even considering Drugovich. With drivers like Sainz all the way back at Williams and Bottas unconfirmed, the driver market is tight and the new drivers will have to step up quickly.
Honda
22nd October 2024, 17:07
FYI
Last year Yuki beat Ricciardo 4-3 in races and qualifying. Ricciardo only scored in 1 race Mexico. Yuki scored in 3races and 1 sprint. He was in points in Mexico as well starting P20 after SC he was on fresh tires and had great opportunity but unfortunately had contact with Piastri and lost at least 2pts there. Overall though, it was still 15-6pts last year.
This year it was 12-6 in qualifying and it is actually 8-6 in races where both car finished. More like 9-5 because Bahrain there were team orders. 22-12pts. Ricciardo was 3times in Q3. Yuki was 9times in Q3. Ricciardo scored in 3races and 1sprint, Yuki scored in 7races and 1sprint.
I don’t think Ricciardo was rubbish but 7races last year and 18races we have enough info who should have stayed. Only caveat is that RB usually had different strategies sadly so it varies each race one driver was getting screwed and it is difficult to analyze true race performance. Monza they din’t even have same car. Supposedly upgraded floor in Monza Yuki had was not even working as expected.
Against Lawson we also need some 25 races to get to some conclusion. He had one good race IMO, from my analysis he was good 0.3secs slower last year in 5races. This year in the US he was slightly slower in SQ and SR but obviously faster in Q and race. But here again they had different strategy so not really apples to apples comparison.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
22nd October 2024, 21:15
My concern for Yuki is more than Daniel was being benchmarked against him rather than vice versa. Yuki is a known quantity – he’s now within the 100 most experienced GP drivers ever and if Red Bull wanted him in the first team they’ve had ample opportunity to do it. The experiment was whether Daniel could master these cars and return to his 2020 form. Obviously he couldn’t but it doesn’t reflect well on Yuki that he wasn’t able to convincingly beat him. At the start of the season Tsunoda did a great job but his form since the Spain upgrade is terrible.
I think Lawson will be evenly matched with Yuki. But I just don’t think that means much at this stage. Does that mean he’d be level or marginally faster than 35yo Ricciardo, slower than Gasly, better than De Vries? It’s not a ringing endorsement for going against or ultimately replacing Max. If Yuki wins, people will point to Lawson’s inexperience, if Lawson wins people will point to Yuki’s average record against a struggling Ricciardo. It doesn’t seem sensible to keep him to me and it hasn’t for a long time.
Honda
23rd October 2024, 6:02
They will replace him if they find a faster driver than him. By next year at this time we will have clear picture against Lawson. Yuki has had some poor result but from my analysis he was only really bad in SPA. Other criticism would be getting stuck behind cars like KMag in Saudi and Sargeant in Holland. Rest was not bad, the car just got worse and he had bad strategies, especially in Austria and Holland. That is the reason Ricciardo also could not score points which he needed. Alpine had some good races, Haas and AM were filling the top10. In Spain team confirmed after few days that he had damaged floor that was the reason he was slow in the race, he also pitted 3times. I would say his big mistakes were in Montreal last 4 laps before the race, missed few points there and the Spin in the US though it did not matter as he lost to only Alonso for P13.
People keep saying he was bad against Gasly which is not accurate at all for 2022. It was close between them with Gasly a bit better 12-9 in qualifying, 8-5 in the races where both finished. Gasly scored 6times and Yuki scored 4times. I would say he was pretty much on par with him. They both had fair share of bad luck and DNF with car lacking pace. Points difference is mainly due to Baku race. He was safe at P6 and Gasly on P5 but he had to pit again to fix the damaged DRS wing. So he missed on easy 8pts there where Gasly got 10pts So 23-12pts is not really representative.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
23rd October 2024, 11:20
I agree there isn’t a more obvious candidate to replace him but my understanding of the junior team is to provide talent to the main operation. Tsunoda hasn’t impressed me enough to warrant a promotion, so he’s taking a seat from Hadjar for next year.
I don’t think he’s a terrible driver but I don’t think it’s genuine to point to 2022 as being level with Gasly. In 2021 he finished ahead 3 times of 16 and out qualified Pierre once. In 2022, 3 of the quali and race stats in Yuki’s favour were in the final 5 races when PG was clearly mentally at Alpine. That shouldn’t detract from Yuki but until the final 5 races Gasly was 7-2 ahead ie Yuki beat him 5 times in 25 races. Not exactly great form against a guy who was dumped out of Red Bull and isn’t setting the world on fire at Alpine. Gasly was also ahead in Bahrain when he retired from 8th, when Yuki was 12th – without that retirement I’m not sure Yuki scores points either.
SteveP
22nd October 2024, 18:33
I think I said before that Albon has been flattered by the low quality of teammate, no one seemed to want to believe it.
Let’s see whether Colapinto can use the remaining weekends to leave people wondering whether it should be a Sainz/Colapinto race pair and Albon as reserve.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
22nd October 2024, 21:24
I think a lot of fans hope to prove Marko wrong. They like the idea of character redemption and a great recovery story. The truth is Latifi was a poor driver, Sargeant should never have been in F1. I’ve been pointing that out since Albon joined Williams – he needed a poor teammate to regain his confidence but for 2023 he needed a challenge. Albon’s not had a standout performance for me for a long time.
I don’t think Colapinto’s junior record is much to right home about either. 11 wins from 124 races or similar is not generational talent. He’s a competent driver and one I felt was great to watch in F2 and F3 but I don’t think we’ve got Senna in the cockpit. Time might prove that assertion foolish, but I think Franco is driving at the limit of the package and Albon is beneath it ATM.
Dom Paul
23rd October 2024, 19:57
Seems like you’re overestimating the correlation between the junior series and F1.
There’s a gulf between them, and proportion of race wins in lesser series when these drivers are literally children is absolutely no indicator of a drivers full potential in F1.
Colapinto is improving exponentially, that much is not up for debate, and there’s nothing you can point to that can indicate he might plateau sooner than later.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
24th October 2024, 16:19
How many drivers with weak junior careers have been successful in F1 ever? Serial winners in F1 have strong junior careers and have done throughout the sports history. It depends what the ceiling is – will Colapinto be an all time great? I doubt it based on his junior record. Could he be a steady midfielder, possibly.
Drivers tend to all have relative talent. It’s their experience in different scenarios with different car types, tracks, teams, weather that separates them. Colapinto has had a few good performances against an ok teammate. Let’s not write him into a full time seat yet just because he’s not making rookie errors.
If I look at Norris his F2 record showed very little ability to fight from the front, strategise or even race from pole into turn 1. No-one doubts Norris is as fast as anyone on the grid, possibly top 5 this decade, but he can’t defend into turn one, backs out of moves and makes poor race craft decisions. Piastri, a serial winner in junior formulae, has been able to do those things. This doesn’t mean Norris can’t get there but it’s a fair indication that if Norris had had a dominant F2 season he’d likely be winning this year too, not relying on dominant wins or SCs.
Nick T.
22nd October 2024, 12:15
Good race, but since he finished about where the car and strategy should have put the car based on Lewis’ spin and Magnussen basically having a technical failure, it’s a bit early to judge how he compares to Yuki. I will say that it is clear it was a good move to put him into the team now and if he does this just twice more, I think we can safely say he’s been a big upgrade for the team.
Speaking of LL/FA, the incompetence of the commentators and producers were once again on display. LL passed Stroll and they were like what a move. You don’t expect to see a driver like Alonso passed there! Then laps later when Lawson caught up to FA, they said “oh, it looks like Alonso got back by! What a battle!” I mean, come on guys.
Ankita
22nd October 2024, 12:17
PER’s performance at RBR is most heart-braking. Neither him nor the team deserves this. It is painful to see it. PER has shown how a great midfielder was. And whoever wants to challenge this, his stats at Sauber and Force India/RP speak for themselves. His shot at a great time either came somewhat late in his career (with children and so on) or he is just not the kind of guy made for that task. I would love to see him back in a midfield team. So, a swap between Lawson and Perez would be great.
With that said, if that happened, I don’t know what would be of Lawson. Let’s assume that he is as talented as Verstappen. He would join a team with a (potential) 4-time world champion, in a team that is fully dedicated to Verstappen. If he performs well, he will have to be careful not to step of the Verstappen’s toes. If he doesn’t then what, do we replace him with the next one in line ?
Nick
22nd October 2024, 20:28
Yes, that’s how F1 works. Just like when Charles Leclerc joined Ferrari with 4-time champion Vettel as the obvious #1. If Leclerc wasn’t strong, Ferrari would have moved on to the next.
Francesco (@schivo69)
22nd October 2024, 14:34
I find really interesting that this gives us a clear diagnosis on Ricciardo’s performances and why he was given a chance to return to Vcarb. Mere publicity stunt, exploiting his DTS popularity. Still remember Horner’s words when he tested RedBull: Dan’s got his mojo back… yeah, right…
Nick T.
22nd October 2024, 20:05
What a silly take. Just because he didn’t work out doesn’t mean he was only given a chance as a publicity stunt. He offered the possibility of a massive upside and when they did sign him they didn’t have any great prospects. Lawson had not yet subbed, had only a good not great junior formula campaign, etc. Logic is your friend. Use it.
Francesco (@schivo69)
25th October 2024, 8:37
Your opinion.
Honda
22nd October 2024, 15:51
This was his first amazing weekend, not at Suzuka last year where he got 5lap undercut and was 0.4secs slower on hard and also not in Singapore last year where Yuki Q1 time was good enough for P9. Here Lawson Q1 time was also good enough for P9 he was 0.4secs faster than his team mate. So it would interesting to see how well he could do in Q2. P19-9 is very rare. According to my analysis, taking away silly penalities and spin. He would be around 15-17secs in front of Yuki. Because every since Gasly and Yuki pitted on lap18 there was only few secs between them, he spun on Lap41 when he was 1secs behind Gasly who finished 15secs off Lawson and 14secs behind Colapinto at P10.
After SC, Lawson was on hards and was only 3secs off his team mate. Since then he was in great spot honestly because not too late the 3guys in midfield pitted and he was behind Hulk and went long on hards. Colapinto also benefited with the same strategy he was at one point 5secs from Lawson but on medium he was much faster than him and caught Lawson at the end. Ocon even had to pit again on soft to take fastest lap from Colapinto.
Overall I am impressed by his performance but not sure we will see 15-17secs advantage on same strategies. He should perform similar to Ricciardo. I think this was his high moment, he will have some avg and poor races too just like any driver. Lawson said something like this is what I can do after Q1 which was unnecessary IMO. He should do his driving do all the talking, not making such comments on radio. I think it was directed to RBR that he should be driving the car since 2023 or beginning of 2024 rather than some random person in social media harassing him.
Nick T.
22nd October 2024, 21:43
His Singapore P9 was also based purely on luck/other drivers having mechanical issues or being punted by Perez. So, I think people are judging him too much on those two races. He might end up be amazing, but as is usual, people are jumping to conclusions far too soon and with an incomplete picture.
Francesco (@schivo69)
25th October 2024, 8:36
Selling an opinion as logic is not exactly a clever take…
Edvaldo
22nd October 2024, 16:21
If Honda and Tsunoda wanted to know why the team never considered him, now they know. He’s just too average. You don’t get to make the jump by being average. Unless they’re out of options, which they are not.
Depending on how Lawson goes for the remaining races and how tight Perez’s contract is, he could very well take the seat for next year.
Chris (@austin-healey)
22nd October 2024, 16:55
I think Mekies was just lucky to have Lawson as a media distraction this weekend.
Because the reality is VCARB lost 6th place in the Constructors in Austin, and it has been overshadowed by Lawson.
I think Mekies job is as tenuous as Perez.
Daniel
22nd October 2024, 17:46
It’s probably worth remembering that Tsunoda was the more impressive RB driver in the sprint qualifying, and he finished ahead of Lawson in the sprint race.
Having said that, I hope Lawson gets the Red Bull seat next year. Perez has had an impressive career, but the gap to Verstappen now is too great.
McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari each have two drivers that are relatively evenly matched, but at Red Bull there is a chasm between the Verstappen and Perez.
Frank
22nd October 2024, 19:04
It is really incredible how far off RB and VCARB are from their targets. It really makes me wonder if they have a very deep systemic problem. They are basing their hopes on a “miracle” that is finding miraculously another driver that can outperform their cars. Up to now only Verstappen has done that. They need two Verstappens and that is really too much to ask for.
Paul (@frankjaeger)
22nd October 2024, 19:52
Tsunoda needs to go, very uninspiring driver. Lawson will just be another Perez. RB need to grow a pair and put someone half decent in the other seat
Nick T.
22nd October 2024, 21:50
Lawson hasn’t out qualified Yuki once yet. So, this is pretty hyperbolic. And don’t try to point to his Q1 time when he was the only driver to use three pairs of new soft new tires in the session.