Liam Lawson has finished the Italian F1 Grand Prix in 11th place, just outside a points-scoring position on his second ever Formula One race. Having qualified 12th fastest, the Kiwi driver put in another solid performance for his Scuderia AlphaTauri team at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy, continuing to impress and to improve.
“A couple of things went wrong today, we need to look into the start,” commented Lawson. “I could have done a better job, and that’s where we lost the chance. The pace wasn’t too bad then, but the race slightly got away from us. “
In a race that saw most drivers take only one pitstop for new tyres, Lawson pitted twice in the quest for better track position.
“We decided to put him (Lawson) on medium tyres, which turned out to be the main compound chosen by almost all the cars on the grid, to allow some flexibility with the strategy,” said Claudio Balestri (Chief Engineer – Vehicle Performance, Scuderia AlphaTauri)
“At the end of Lap 1, Liam was in P12 and was able to keep up with the pace of the car around us, but the tyre degradation, which is critical in Monza, especially at the rear, was high. Therefore, we pitted him on Lap 13 to fit the hard compound.
“We wanted to push more on tyres to go for a two-stop strategy, so we called him in again on Lap 33 to fit another set of medium tyres. In the last stint, the lap times were good, and Liam was closing the gap compared to some one-stoppers.
“We were able to overtake Sargeant on the final lap, while Bottas stayed in front, so Liam finished the race in P11, just outside the points.”
“I’m still learning the procedures and definitely starting to feel more comfortable in the car,” said Lawson. “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.”
Lawson’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda failed to take the start of the race pulling off the track on the warm-up lap with an issue with his power unit. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen went on to win and create F1 history winning ten races on-the-trot.
“We now need to go home and analyse what we could have done better, to come back stronger in Singapore and beyond,“ said Claudio Balestri
Lawson is now expected to compete in the Singapore F1 Grand Prix (15-17 September2023) as he continues to replace an injured Daniel Ricciardo.
Comments