by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes New Zealand star Liam Lawson “did a very good job” in sprint qualifying at the United States Grand Prix on his return to Formula One.
Red Bull junior team VCARB announced last month that Hastings-born Lawson would contest the final six races of the 2024 F1 season after replacing Australian Daniel Ricciardo following the Singapore GP.
Helmut Marko is happy with Liam Lawson’s F1 comeback at the USA GP
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock
After a bright start to practice on Friday in Austin, Texas, Lawson was faster than his established teammate Yuki Tsunoda in the first phase of sprint qualifying.
However, the 22-year-old ultimately had to settle for 15th place after a lap was canceled in the closing stages of SQ2 for exceeding track limits.
The United States GP marks Lawson’s first F1 appearance in more than a year after impressing in five cameo appearances in mid-2023 while filling in for the injured Ricciardo.
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Marko spoke exclusively to PlanetF1.com US editor Elizabeth Blackstock after sprint qualifying and was pleased with Lawson’s comeback performance.
When asked if he expected more from Lawson, he replied: “No, he basically did a very good job.”
“He was unlucky with the track limits and dropped out in P12, but in SQ1 he was faster than Yuki.
“He’s never been to this track before, so it’s fine.”
Reflecting on his session, Lawson added: “To be honest, everything went really well. The setup earlier was good and then SQ1 was good too, I just found things here and there.
“Of course we managed one lap in the second qualifying and it was really difficult. From turn 1 I got really far onto the curb and the wheels were spinning massively.
“And from then on, of course, you try to make up time for the rest of the lap because you know you’re in a delta.
“Just a bumpy ride. That’s a shame because the car was really fast and to be honest I feel really good and comfortable.
“We will learn from this for tomorrow.”
Lawson is expected to start from the back of the grid in Sunday’s feature race at Circuit of The Americas, with the FIA confirming a 60-place grid penalty following an engine change.
F1 rules state that engine components are fitted to the car and not to each individual driver, forcing Lawson to serve a penalty after inheriting Ricciardo’s parts pool.
Lawson admitted he would have preferred to get back into action on a normal F1 race weekend with three practice sessions, but admitted the nature of the sprint format had forced him to “just get on with it”.
When asked about his goal for the sprint race, he replied: “Try to move forward.
“I think I would have preferred to have three training sessions, but at least this way I’m kind of forced to just keep going and work with what we’ve got and basically that’s what we’re doing.”
“I think the car is pretty fast. I guess tomorrow’s race will be more of a warm-up for Sunday.
“Obviously I’ll be at the back of the grid on Sunday anyway, but it will be good to learn tomorrow to try and take these things forward for Sunday.”
Despite announcing that Lawson would replace Ricciardo for the remainder of Formula 1 in 2024, VCARB was unable to confirm the youngster for next season – raising speculation that Lawson was still a contender to succeed Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing could turn out in Formula 1 in 2025.
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s team boss, recently hinted that Lawson could be considered as a serious alternative to Perez, admitting ahead of Lawson’s return that the team “urgently needs answers” in the hope of next season having two drivers capable of consistently scoring points.
Perez, who has not scored a podium finish since the Chinese Grand Prix in April, endured a difficult sprint qualifying and could only manage 11th on the grid, while his teammate Max Verstappen secured his first pole position ever since the Austrian Grand Prix June.
Asked if he was disappointed with Perez’s performance, Marko added: “He qualified on the soft tire. He said he couldn’t control the tire and we’ll have to see what’s causing that.
“But from P11 it will be difficult to get into the points.”
Read more: Helmut Marko announces: “Red Bull is back,” while Max Verstappen admits: “It’s been a while.”
