Liam Lawson is about to return to full-time racing at the upcoming United States Grand Prix. However, the 22-year-old will be re-introduced with an engine penalty for the 56-lap contest at COTA. Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner calls it a “soft re-entry”.
Lawson replaces Daniel Ricciardo at RB F1 for the remainder of the ongoing season. Last year he took over the seat of the Australian for five races, as Ricciardo recovered from a wrist injury, sustained during practice of the Dutch Grand Prix.
In these five races, Lawson impressed with his perfomance. He scored points at Singapore, where he knocked out world champion Max Verstappen in Q2 to reach the final part of qualifying. During the five-race stint the New Zealander finished ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in three races, who remained score-less.
Despite the impressive run, Lawson was not signed to a full-time race seat for 2024. He remained as the reserve driver for Red Bull Racing and RB F1. From Austin, he will be back behind the wheel but will drop some positions for Sunday’s Grand Prix, as confirmed by motorsport advisor Dr. Helmut Marko.
“The first race [in the United States] won’t be relevant because he has an engine penalty,” Marko revealed to German publication Motorsport-Total recently. “He will drop 10 places in the sprint race [Grand Prix], so that doesn’t exactly make life easier in Austin.”
On the F1 Nation podcast, Christian Horner confirmed the grid drop plan. When asked what the expectations for Lawson will be in Austin, he replied: “Well, Austin, he’ll be taking an engine penalty there anyway, so he’s got a bit of a soft landing or soft re-entry.”
Over the course of the next few races, it is expected that Lawson proves to be a match for Yuki Tsunoda. Horner recalled how well the New Zealander did against his Japanese teammate but also acknowledges that Tsunoda has taken a step forward.
“Of course, he’s [Lawson] going to be gaged against his team-mate,” Horner said. “He was very quick against him last year.
“I think Yuki stepped it up a gear again this year, so it’s just gonna be fascinating to see how quickly he adapts, how quickly he gets on with it.”
