Fastest lap in Sunday’s FIA Formula 2 Championship Feature Race could be described as the highlight of the weekend for Kiwi driver Liam Lawson. Heading into the Sochi round at the Russian Grand Prix, Lawson was placed eighth overall and stays in that position with two rounds remaining.
Having qualified eighth, he went on to crash out of the opening Sprint Race. Wet conditions saw the second Sprint Race scratched and he finished seventh in the final Feature Race of the weekend.
“Not the best weekend,” commented Lawson. “Yesterday in Race 1 it was cold brakes on the VSC restart, a stupid mistake, I braked too late, couldn’t slow down and got damage,” explained the 19-year-old.
“Today (Feature Race) we went for an alternate strategy that might have worked. We started on Primes, it was quite cold here and for the first 5 laps I could just not switch the tyre on. The guys around me were on Options and I fell backwards. I think that is where I lost all the time.”
“I had a good middle stint once the guys in front of me boxed, made up some time on the leaders, then boxed, went out on Options, had good pace but was just too far back so couldn’t do more.”
Oscar Piastri took his second consecutive Feature Race win and extended his lead in the Drivers’ standings with a commanding drive at the Sochi Autodrom. The Australian headed Théo Pourchaire across the line, with Jehan Daruvala occupying the final spot on the podium.
Fellow Kiwi driver Marcus Armstrong qualified 11th, finished in that position in both the Sprint and Feature Race and is 14th overall on the points table.
Just two rounds remain in the 2021 season, with the Championship set to resume in just over two months’ time in Jeddah.,
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