Liam Lawson has conceded he was prepared to take added risk to
retain his position over Yuki Tsunoda in the dying laps of the
Azerbaijan Grand Prix. A successful weekend for Lawson saw him bag
fifth place, the best result of his F1 career to date. Lawson
headed a small train of cars in the latter stages of the grand
prix, with Tsunoda, championship contender Lando Norris and
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton running in sixth, seventh and eighth
respectively. Tsunoda pitted long after Lawson had made his only
stop, emerging on track marginally ahead of the New Zealander,
before Lawson managed to claw back the spot in the following
corners. Lawson later expressed surprise at being able to remain
ahead of Tsunoda and bring home the strong haul of points for
Racing Bulls. “He was on a fresh set of tyres, on a medium and a
grippier tyre,” Lawson reflected, speaking to the media, including
RacingNews365 . “Honestly, I was preparing for him to end up
catching me quicker, and I expected them to be faster. “Looking at
Max [Verstappen], they had a great race, and the car looks good.
“When I saw him come out on a better tyre, I was expecting him to
catch me faster. “Our sector three was strong this weekend; it
needed to be. And after the mistake with Kimi, I made sure I never
ran out of energy again.” Lawson clueless over race position There
was added scrutiny on the battle between Lawson and Tsunoda, given
the duo swapped seats after the second round of the campaign. But
Lawson stated the thought of who he was battling did not weigh on
his mind during the race, suggesting he treated Tsunoda no
differently despite the Japanese driver competing for a sister
team. “I had no idea what position I was in until we crossed the
line, but I knew we were in a decent position because of all the
cars that were behind me,” he said. “So naturally, you're just
trying to keep the car behind. “It was the same with [Charles]
Leclerc. It was the same with Kimi [Antonelli] at the start. "At
the end of the race, obviously, I'm going to try and take a bit
more risk to keep it there. “So I don't really think too much like
that.”
retain his position over Yuki Tsunoda in the dying laps of the
Azerbaijan Grand Prix. A successful weekend for Lawson saw him bag
fifth place, the best result of his F1 career to date. Lawson
headed a small train of cars in the latter stages of the grand
prix, with Tsunoda, championship contender Lando Norris and
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton running in sixth, seventh and eighth
respectively. Tsunoda pitted long after Lawson had made his only
stop, emerging on track marginally ahead of the New Zealander,
before Lawson managed to claw back the spot in the following
corners. Lawson later expressed surprise at being able to remain
ahead of Tsunoda and bring home the strong haul of points for
Racing Bulls. “He was on a fresh set of tyres, on a medium and a
grippier tyre,” Lawson reflected, speaking to the media, including
RacingNews365 . “Honestly, I was preparing for him to end up
catching me quicker, and I expected them to be faster. “Looking at
Max [Verstappen], they had a great race, and the car looks good.
“When I saw him come out on a better tyre, I was expecting him to
catch me faster. “Our sector three was strong this weekend; it
needed to be. And after the mistake with Kimi, I made sure I never
ran out of energy again.” Lawson clueless over race position There
was added scrutiny on the battle between Lawson and Tsunoda, given
the duo swapped seats after the second round of the campaign. But
Lawson stated the thought of who he was battling did not weigh on
his mind during the race, suggesting he treated Tsunoda no
differently despite the Japanese driver competing for a sister
team. “I had no idea what position I was in until we crossed the
line, but I knew we were in a decent position because of all the
cars that were behind me,” he said. “So naturally, you're just
trying to keep the car behind. “It was the same with [Charles]
Leclerc. It was the same with Kimi [Antonelli] at the start. "At
the end of the race, obviously, I'm going to try and take a bit
more risk to keep it there. “So I don't really think too much like
that.”
The post Liam Lawson highlights added 'risk' during Yuki Tsunoda battle appeared first on RacingNews365.