Beaming Lawson ‘definitely didn’t’ expect points on F1 return after massive grid penalty

Liam Lawson has admitted that his points result in the United States Grand Prix – his first race back on the grid since October 2023 – was very unexpected, particularly given that he arrived into the weekend with a massive 60-place grid penalty.

Having inherited the pool of components previously used by Daniel Ricciardo after replacing the Australian at RB for the remainder of the season, Lawson found himself having to start Sunday’s race in Austin from the back of the grid due to exceeding the allocated amount of several power unit elements.

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Despite this, the New Zealander managed to make ground during the 56-lap encounter, overtaking drivers including the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, as well as Pierre Gasly in the Alpine to work his way up to a final position of P9.

When it was put to Lawson after the race that he probably was not expecting to come away from the Circuit of The Americas with points given his hefty grid penalty, the RB driver said “Yeah, I definitely didn’t, honestly, not after where we were starting and also just after yesterday’s Sprint race.

“I think we struggled a lot and although we made a big step with the car yesterday, you never know – in a race it’s completely different, we don’t know if it’s going to work out exactly as we planned.

“So to have a clear step in quali and in the race with the car is really positive for me. I felt really comfortable which was the main target this weekend, to get to the end of it and to feel confident with the car.

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“It’s always nice when you’re the overtaking car as well, which today we were, and I think it was just that hard stint at the start that really put us in a great position.”

In terms of where the progression in pace came from, Lawson credited the RB team with helping him to continue to gel with the VCARB 01 during his first full race weekend in the car.

“[It’s been] just I think me getting more comfortable and the stint with the guys, the team’s worked really, really hard this weekend and we’ve been quite aggressive with changes that we’ve made, potentially more aggressive than you normally would be,” the 22-year-old explained.

“But they’ve worked really hard for the last couple of weeks getting me prepared for this, and the guys have worked overtime to get me comfortable.

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“And then with the car this weekend as well, it’s just been a big team effort. I’m very thankful for all the work they have done to get me comfortable in the car, and for it to work out like that is always a nice feeling.”