Liam Lawson is not the first Red Bull youth driver to attempt to conquer the pinnacle of Japanese motorsport and win a title in the national Super Formula series. In 2017, Pierre Gasly performed there and also became vice-champion.
The New Zealander had a very good season and was among the contenders for the title until the last race, but ultimately lost by only eight points to the Ritomo Miata, which won the championship.
“I knew it wouldn’t be easy for me to get behind the wheel of a Super Formula car again after Formula 1 – and that turned out to be the case,” said Lawson after Sunday’s race at Suzuka. “But I really like this car and at the start of qualifying I felt quite comfortable.
Before the start of the weekend we understood that we had to regain a lot of points and on Saturday I drove a good lap in the first qualifying session, qualifying for the next one, but during the second session, when I already I drove 95% of the fastest lap in which I had to show a good time, the races were stopped by red flags. Since I had no fresh tires left, I had to be satisfied with the 7th result.
In the race I made my way to the front, overtook two competitors, but that too was stopped by red flags and I even lost points. However, on Sunday we can try to do something.
In the second qualifying of the weekend we won pole position but were unable to achieve a higher pace during the race, although we had good race pace on Saturday and only the conditions prevented us from demonstrating this.
It’s great to have won my first pole position, and although I had a good start, it wasn’t a perfect start due to a clutch failure, so the moment we set off I lost the lead. Throughout the entire race I was putting pressure on my opponent, trying to get him to make a mistake, but I couldn’t move forward.
Our Team Mugen became champions in the team competition and that is great, but it is a shame that we missed out on the title. But the team made a huge effort and I fully felt their support.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
