Liam Lawson of Red Bull will start Sunday’s F1 Chinese GP from P20 on the grid, just like he did for the Sprint. It has been a shocking weekend so far for the New Zealander.
A recovery to only P14 in the Sprint suggests a very long day is ahead.
A moment with Pierre Gasly near the end of Q1
Heading towards the final corner to start his last attempt, Gasly overtook Lawson to jump him in the queue. The Red Bull driver was left exposed, leaving him too close to the French driver at the start of his run, meaning he failed to improve. It put him last.
Nonetheless, he was fully aware that he should not have been in that kind of position in the first place as his stablemate Max Verstappen got through easily on a single set of softs.
“I think it was just one of those things.
“He decided to go for his lap early and I started my lap too close. But it shouldn’t be the difference between me getting through to Q2 and not getting through.
“I should already be there on the first lap. Yeah, it’s just something I need to get on top of.”
The narrow operating window a Red Bull has
Ever since Daniel Ricciardo left the Milton Keynes-based squad at the end of 2018, the second seat has been a graveyard for drivers. Gasly, Albon, Pérez and now Lawson have all struggled to lay a glove on Max Verstappen.
Due to the Dutchman’s rather unique driving style and how the Red Bull cars lean towards that — even if the four-time World Champion had his own difficulties last year in particular — it makes it virtually impossible for the other driver to feel any kind of comfort behind the wheel.
The Kiwi explained what was going after qualifying, and he is fully aware time will not be his friend.
“It’s just a small window — it’s hard to drive. It’s hard to get in that window.
“I’d love to say that with time, obviously, that’ll come. I just don’t really have time to do that.
“It’s just something I need to get on top of.
“No [tyre preparation was not an issue], it’s just car characteristics, the way the car drives.
“Obviously if Max is able to drive it, then I should be able to get on top of it as well.”
Some light at the end of the tunnel in the weeks to come?
Liam Lawson faces a mountain to climb later Sunday as he starts last in the F1 Chinese GP, and it’s safe to say points are pretty unlikely.
On a positive note, Suzuka, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia come next, all tracks he has raced on in either Super Formula or F2.
The 23-year-old believes that can help somewhat as he looks to find some semblance of pace in the RB21.
“Yeah, it should help.
“But I think it’s more of getting on top of this, of getting the car in the right window, and Suzuka will help that.
“But right now, I just want to look into this and figure out what’s going on.”
A lingering problem since the Australian GP weekend
As his print media zone chat concluded, Liam Lawson says the problems he has had with the RB21 only because noticable to him last weekend. Testing was incredibly messy for the New Zealander due to the weather and some unreliability.
“I think it’s hard to know. We had a really messy testing, and it’s hard to know really where we stood from that.
“We had a solid first half of the day, and then the next day we drove, it was a bit out of sync with everybody, so we don’t really get a clear indication.
“So it’s something that I felt in Melbourne, and here as well, obviously.”
