It was a rather positive return to Formula 1 for Liam Lawson, who managed to end the Austin round in the top ten despite having to start from the back of the grid due to taking a number of new engine components.
The RB driver was pleased with the strong performance he was able to put in at a track that was new for him, as he commented on the past race ahead of the upcoming Mexican round.
Set-up changes between the Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying was critical to turning things around as the pace in the 19-lap race on Saturday was not fantastic.
“It was good. It was a really good weekend to start off. I think it was probably better than what we expected.
“But obviously as I said last week, we made some big progress with the car over the weekend, especially on Saturday, and that’s really what helped us carry through that pace through qualy and then also in the race.”
It’ll be a first experience at Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez for the 22-year-old this weekend. Daniel Ricciardo had returned to action by the time this race came around last year.
Lawson is expecting a tough challenge.
“So yeah, it was good, but coming here, it’s a completely different style of circuit, and we almost have to start from zero a little bit.
“Obviously for me as well, all these tracks we now go to are very new. I have to learn them and get up to speed again.
“Austin was great, but we obviously have to reset here.”
Having three practice sessions, especially with the 90-minute FP2 session on Friday because of Pirelli tyre testing is helpful, but the track is at high altitude, and having grip is very much at a premium.
“Yeah, that’s true, but obviously an unconventional track as well. With the altitude here, with the style of circuit, it’s going to be completely different to drive.
“It’s nice that we have a bit more time to build into it, but I’m expecting it to be very, very hard, and I’m not expecting to start where we left off in Austin either.
“I expect each weekend we’re going to have to, similar to last year, it’s pretty much how it was each weekend last year when I drove. It was like, even if we had a good weekend, we had to reset for the next one because we kind of start from zero a little bit.”
The additional time will be useful not only to him as he gets to know a new venue, but also for his more experienced teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who will be running an upgrade this weekend as RB looks to overtake Haas in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Yeah, for sure, this is a weekend that maybe we have more time to do that, so I think it’s more going to be about figuring out.
“Exactly what we found in Austin might not necessarily work here because of the circuit, because of the style of it, so it’s trying to work out what’s going to work here and maximising those sessions.
“But there’s a part of that, there’s a time, there’s going to be a period in these sessions where we have to account for me building up to speed as well.
“So for Yuki it’s going to be more important, I would say, with him running the new upgrade to make the most of it.”
The New Zealand native opened up about the challenges he encountered in his first round back in the sport, which were heightened by the fact that it was a Sprint race weekend, featuring only one practice before the two qualifying sessions and race took place.
“It’s always hard at first, and because it was a Sprint, it was quite tricky, so Friday FP1 was a little bit tough.
“But at the same time, once it’s in there, it’s somewhere in there, and I think you find it pretty quickly.
“To be honest, halfway through FP1, I was already starting to get quite comfortable, but obviously nothing compares to driving every other weekend in a season.”
A very impressive moment on his return to action was his Q1 lap, which saw him place his car in third place for that particular segment.
Lawson recalled the feelings that passed through his mind in the midst of the performance, also knowing that it would wind up not mattering due to the fact he would be starting last.
In Q2, he gave teammate Yuki Tsunoda a tow on his laps to try and help the Japanese driver advance to Q3.
“You know when it’s a good lap, when everything is working as you want it to, I felt with how the car was at the beginning of Q1, we had made some really, really good steps from the Saturday morning, so it’s just nice when everything connects well.
“The tyre prep goes all perfectly, you arrive at turn one and everything’s exactly how you expect it to be, and then you have the confidence to just press on exactly how you want to, and it was a satisfying lap.
“It was extremely frustrating [not to build on that], yeah. Obviously it is what it is, but at the time it was… I knew that Q1 was the only session I was going to get to really show our speed, so I wanted to do that, and I think we achieved that, but it would have been great to have a proper shot at the rest of quali.”
Asked if he had gotten positive feedback from Red Bull and the management team after his strong drive, Lawson’s reply confirmed it, even if there is still a lot to be done in order to ensure a full time seat for 2025 at Red Bull or RB.
Regarding the next three events, Lawson says pre-event preparation is key to getting good results and maximising the performance, as was the case at COTA.
“’Yeah, good job’, but obviously the expectation is to carry on performing as well, so one weekend’s not enough to do too much.
“They’re happy with how it went, but as I said, this is a very different style of circuit, so we have to really put a lot of effort into these weekends.
“Honestly, the weekend preparation is very, very important to how we end up performing.”
