Liam Lawson believes the issues that left him stranded off the line at Albert Park are behind him, giving Racing Bulls hope for a stronger showing in the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend.
Lawson’s VCARB 03 failed to respond at the lights in Melbourne, dropping him from seventh on the grid to the back of the field and derailing what could have been a points finish.
He eventually crossed the line in 13th, but the incident provided crucial lessons for the team.
“Obviously, we reflected on… or we went through everything in the race, and we know what happened at the start, and we know what happened during the race,” Lawson said.
“And, a lot that we’re learning at the moment with these cars, so we’ll obviously continue to apply that this weekend.
“But, yeah, as you said, it was a positive from a speed point of view in Melbourne.
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“Should’ve, obviously, ideally had two cars in the points, but we’ll, yeah, obviously come here this weekend and try and replicate what we did last week.”
The start in Australia also put Lawson in a precarious position on track.
Franco Colapinto narrowly avoided a collision with the slow-moving Kiwi, reacting in milliseconds to thread his car through a tight gap between Lawson and the pit wall.
“[Colapinto] did a very good job to avoid that! I spoke to him after the race,” Lawson said.
“It was an issue that we had, and something that we hadn’t had too much before that.
“But now that we’ve had it, we understand why, and we’ll obviously fix that going forward.
“So, it’s a shame, but it’s something that we can avoid.
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“And we’ve had good starts in pre-season testing when everything is working correctly, so we’ll try and apply that this weekend.”
Lawson’s rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad impressed in his first Formula 1 outing, finishing eighth in Melbourne and taking points on debut, with Lawson welcoming the competitive push within the garage.
“You know, anybody that’s coming into Formula 1 now, especially on Red Bull’s side, is, obviously, very strong,” Lawson said.
“Obviously, Arvid’s had a great weekend in Melbourne as well, and shown that strength.
“So, it’s positive from a team side of things for both of us to be trying to push the car forwards and develop as much as we can.
“So I think, yeah, we have a good team around us, and we’re both in a good position to try and improve the car.”
He said the Shanghai International Circuit presents a very different challenge to Albert Park, with only a single hour of practice before Sprint Qualifying adding to the weekend’s pressure.
“It’s a very different track here, so I think you’ll see swings from teams, week to week, depending on the type of track,” Lawson said.
“And, for us, this weekend, we’re a little bit unsure as to how we’ll go here, whether we’ll be as strong as we were in Melbourne.
“But, yeah, we’ll find out tomorrow.”
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