How Liam Lawson forced his way into F1 drive contention — in five GPs

But in the chaotic race that followed, with on-and-off downpours and a mid-race safety car, Lawson stayed calm and collected. He pitted four times in total, made the correct switch to the correct tyre on each occasion (decisions attributed to his race engineer Pierre Hamelin) and moved up from 16th to 14th in the final six rain-plagued laps.

He was also classified ahead of his team-mate, despite finishing 1.4sec behind him at the flag, when Tsunoda was handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with George Russell.

Lawson declared himself to be “reasonably satisfied” with his debut, but he’d ticked off all the essentials by keeping out of trouble, finishing the race and improving lap by lap.

 

2023 Italian GP

Qualified 12th
Finished 11th

Lawson arrived at Monza with the backing of Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who praised his debut ahead of the race. “In very difficult circumstances, in a car he’d never driven, having missed out on the Friday running, at a tricky track in raining conditions, it was very tough for him, but I thought he acquitted himself very well, very maturely and did a solid job during the race,” said Horner. “I think he ticks all the boxes. We’re obviously following his progress very closely.”

A full set of practice sessions behind him, Lawson qualified 12th for the 2024 Italian GP — this time 0.164sec behind Tsunoda. The temporary AlphaTauri pairing looked to be closely matched throughout Sunday’s race (as they had been in Zandvoort) but when Tsunoda’s car developed a fault during the formation lap, Lawson became the team’s sole chance at a points finish — and he very nearly delivered.

Despite intense opposition on the run down to Turn 1, the Kiwi firmly held his ground and found consistent pace throughout the first stint, passing the Haas of Nico Hülkenberg for 11th with a huge send into Prima Variante. During the second stint he held position as the fastest of the non-point scoring cars, but a late switch to the mediums left Lawson with a lot of work to do with just 11 laps remaining.

He passed Lance Stroll and Logan Sargeant and claimed 11th at the chequered flag — finishing just 6sec adrift of Valtteri Bottas‘s Alfa Romeo in tenth.

 

2023 Singapore GP

Qualified 10th
Finished 9th

Singapore‘s heat, humidity and twisting layout make it one of F1’s toughest challenges, and marked Lawson’s biggest test so far. He aced it.

He began the weekend by upsetting the apple cart, as he knocked out Tsunoda in Q1 by two-tenths of a second, then outqualified Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in ill-behaved Red Bulls in Q2. Lawson’s AlphaTauri was the only Red Bull-owned car to appear in Q3.

The Kiwi’s ability to race beyond his years continued in Sunday’s Grand Prix, with another composed performance. He secured ninth place and a points finish as a result, despite missing out to a charging Oscar Piastri and becoming frustrated in DRS trains.

“Liam did a fantastic job of managing his tyres, making moves where possible and returning consistent lap times,” said AlphaTauri technical director Jody Egginton. “He was defending against several cars and performed some strong moves to keep in the points and bring the car home for very well-deserved first F1 points.”

“He did a fantastic race in Singapore,” added team principal Franz Tost. “It was not an easy track, which means he took the physical training very seriously and that way he scored two points, he finished ninth. He deserves to be in Formula 1, 100%.”

 

2023 Japanese GP 

Qualified 11th
Finished 11th

Lawson may have deserved an F1 seat, but it was made clear that he wouldn’t have one in 2024 when, ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, AlphaTauri announced that it would retain Tsunoda and Ricciardo for the following season — an understandable decision given that Ricciardo hadn’t had yet time to establish himself at the team, and perform to his optimum.

While Lawson’s performances in his first first three grands prix had ben eye-catching, Tsunoda’s misfortunes made it difficult to make clear comparisons between the team-mates. The Japanese GP changed that.

In qualifying, Tsunoda emerged as the victor as he outpaced Lawson by 0.304sec and secured the ninth grid slot. Lawson started the race two spaces back, but he wouldn’t be there for long. And he wouldn’t be playing nice.

Sitting in Tsunoda’s slipstream off the startline, Lawson pulled alongside in the first double right-hander and the pair ran side-by-side in a forceful duel for six corners. Lawson muscled through on the inside of the first Degner corner, then squeezed Tsunoda to the apex in an uncompromising move, blocking his team-mate, as he tried to regain the position on the inside of the second Degner.

Tsunoda retook ninth position after undercutting his team-mate during the first round of pitstops, but Lawson remained in constant touch — never straying further than two seconds behind the Japanese driver. Then it was his turn to be pitted ahead of Tsunoda. In free air, Lawson was able to undercut his team-mate and take ninth — a position he kept until the chequered flag.

Unsurprisingly, the drive earned more praise at Red Bull; a team that likes its drivers to be hard-nosed. “It’s only a matter of time before he gets his opportunity and full-time chance,” said Horner. “Liam certainly turned heads and gave us plenty to think about, in particular following his Singapore drive. He’s doing everything possible to justify a case for a full-time drive but unfortunately three into two doesn’t go.”

In reaction to losing out on a full-time seat for 2024, Lawson’s response was blunt: “I’ve just beaten the guy [Tsunoda] who’s getting a seat,” he told Netflix’s Drive to Survive. “It was meant to be me.”

 

2023 Qatar GP 

Qualified 18th
Finished 17th

Lawson’s final race weekend before Ricciardo’s return showed that he remains an unfinished article, but there were mitigating circumstances. In qualifying for the Qatar GP he finished 18th — over half a second adrift of Tsunoda in 11th. He started from 14th in the sprint, but span out into the gravel on lap 1. Then in the Grand Prix, he struggled to make progress and finished a distant 17th.

It was later revealed that both AlphaTauris had been nursing issues throughout the weekend, and the sweltering conditions — which saw several drivers suffer from dehydration or heat exhaustion and caused Esteban Ocon to be physically sick — only amplified the problems.

While Lawson remained bitter about not “ending on a high note”, knowing that this race weekend could be his last, Horner had seen all he needed to.

“It certainly won’t be his last race in F1 with what he’s done in these five races,” he said. “He’s demonstrated that he deserves an opportunity in the future.”

 

Lawson’s impending F1 return 

From the 2023 US GP onwards, Lawson returned to his reserve driver role, as Ricciardo finally had an extended run of races in which to try and prove himself.

His head-to-head performances versus Tsunoda speak for themselves: on average the Aussie has failed to out-qualify his team-mate at 64% of races since his return to Formula 1 at the 2023 Hungarian GP; has finished ahead of him on race day only nine times in 27 races; and has scored 18 points compared to Tsunoda’s 37 (only in their time as team-mates).

Conversely, in his five-race-long AlphaTauri cameo last year, Lawson finished ahead of Tsunoda in three races; scored three points to Tsunoda’s none; and was an almost constant threat to the top ten.