A very impressive rookie season in Super Formula by Red Bull Junior Liam Lawson concluded at Suzuka with pole for Sunday’s final race. After 31 tough laps, he took second place and that gave the 21-year-old New Zealander 2nd in the prestigious championship.
“I knew it was going to be tough swapping back to Super Formula after driving the F1 car and it was,” commented Lawson. But I really enjoy this car and by the time we got to Qualifying I was comfortable.
“We knew going into the final weekend we had points to make up and Q1 on Saturday was OK, put in a banker lap. Into Q2 and I was 95% round my push lap that would have been right at the front when the Red Flag came out. Because of the Motegi crash, I didn’t have another set of tyres to have another go so that was it, P7.
“Still, we could have got something out of Saturday’s race, I was moving forward, made a couple of passes but then the race was red-flagged and I actually lost points.
“A frustrating day and all the more so considering we took pole on Sunday. We didn’t find more pace on Sunday, we had that pace on Saturday, it was just the circumstances that meant we didn’t show it.
“It was great to take my first pole. The start wasn’t bad but it wasn’t perfect, we’ve had a few clutch issues and I lost the lead off the line. I could push him all the way through the race and I did, I pushed him to try and get him to make a mistake but I couldn’t get ahead.
“It was great to get the Team’s Championship, a shame we didn’t take the Driver’s title as well, especially for my side of the garage who worked so hard and supported me so completely.
“The whole team have been absolutely fantastic from the first day I arrived, incredibly skilled and experienced plus they have a work ethic that I have not seen in any other junior series. A huge privilege to be part of it.”
Super Formula Championship Points after 9 of 9 races
1/ R. Miyata (Toms) 114.5 points
2/ L. Lawson (Mugen) 106.5
3/ T. Nojiri (Mugen) 106
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