Liam Lawson scored the first points of his F1 career at the Singapore GP with ninth place. Bayer has confirmed him for Suzuka, but he is working to have a seat in 2024.
As the curtain fell on the Marina Bay circuit, Liam Lawson scored his first points in Formula 1. Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement had already distinguished himself in qualifying, where for just seven seconds he effectively put Max Verstappen out of Q3. Following the previous two Grands Prix the New Zealander had demonstrated a quick adaptation to the car. Ultimately positioning himself just outside the points in at Monza. After two races, he managed to cross the finish line in Marina Bay in ninth position. A satisfying result for the young driver.
Looking for stability
For the Singapore weekend, AlphaTauri had to roll up its sleeves. With Ricciardo’s injury and Tsunoda’s retirement in Monza, they had to find stability again. The Red Bull satellite team found itself having to face a period of chaos. Including the dismissal of Nyck de Vries, who was replaced by the Australian number 3. But the misfortunes are not over. Shortly afterward Ricciardo suffered an accident in Zandvoort which required wrist surgery. Here Red Bull replaced him with the New Zealander Liam Lawson.
The surprise at the bottom of the top-10
His debut in Formula 1 caught everyone’s attention. Following the results obtained in Holland and Monza, it was time to fly to Singapore. A fairly complex circuit, including the high humidity and the impediment caused by the walls on the sides of the track in dispersing the heat. And it is precisely here that Lawson, taking advantage of Red Bull’s weakness, managed to kick Max Verstappen out of Q3, by just 3 thousandths!
Starting from tenth position, between various duels and battles, the driver managed to finish in ninth position. Here he takes home his first points, placing himself just one point behind his teammate Tsunoda in the drivers’ standings. The result obtained is a very important step.
Best result for AlphaTauri
Thanks to this almost entirely error-free performance, Lawson became the second driver in AlphaTauri to achieve the best result of the season for the Faenza team. Before him, Tsunoda had achieved three tenth place finishes, gaining 3 points. Lawson, however, managed to collect two points in Singapore.
But nothing is lost! In Singapore the Faenza team presented itself with a new package of updates which, with a view to the Suzuka GP, could deliver good results. Currently, Tsunoda’s disappointment for not being able to complete the race remains. Directly contrasted with the joy of Liam Lawson’s first points obtained. However, the New Zealander said he was satisfied with the race played, keeping a critical eye on his performances. What we can hope is that the package of updates brought to Singapore will be useful for the Suzuka race.
With his family trackside, it was always going to be a memorable weekend for @LiamLawson30
But he could never have imagined how events would turn out#SingaporeGP @AlphaTauriF1 pic.twitter.com/3K5N401jp9
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 18, 2023
An uncertain future
Despite the excellent results obtained, Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo are moving towards a renewal with AlphaTauri for 2024. In fact, the announcement of the two drivers who will race with AlphaTauri in the 2024 season is expected during the Suzuka weekend. In this announcement, it seems that Liam will not be taken into consideration by the team. However, considering the speed with which Helmut Marko has repeatedly revised his assessments, it is not certain that the New Zealander will be destined to follow all the Grands Prix from the pits in 2024.
