Through all the madness, mayhem and misery for some in Brazil, I feel as though one driver’s performance ended up going a little under the radar.
The driver in question is VCARB’s Liam Lawson. The New Zealander, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at VCARB, has impressed since being parachuted into the car and this weekend, for me, had a real coming of age overall performance.
Starting with sprint qualifying, Lawson qualified 10 positions ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda in eighth but missed out on a point after another battle with Checo Perez’s Red Bull - a car he’s been touted to be driving next season.
📸 Lawson out qualified Tsunoda in the sprint session.
Fast forward to qualifying, Lawson caused the first yellow of the session with a short excursion at the foot of the run up Juncao but never looked back. As the final laps came in, he leapt up to P2 before Tsunoda usurped him, as well as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, which slightly overshadowed Lawson’s lofty fifth place position for the race.
📸 Tsunoda was ahead of Lawson, putting the car third on the Grand Prix grid.
Through the tumultuous race, Lawson kept his cool, despite being spun round by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, and yet another tense battle with Perez to come home ninth ahead of seven time world champion Lewis Hamilton, with a decisive move on the Brit coming on full wet tyres with a little wheel banging into turn one of the rain sodden circuit.
📸 Spun round by Piastri.
Teammate Tsunoda may have stolen the show for VCARB but Liam Lawson showed this weekend why the team wanted him back in the car, and why he’s being considered for a Red Bull drive in the near future. Under the radar, but a stellar showing by the Kiwi at Interlagos. Well done Liam.
📸 Eyes on a Red Bull seat.
📸 Image credits: Formula Motorsport Limited, Visa Cashapp RB F1 Team.
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