Liam Lawson was airdropped into the second seat at Alpha Tauri at the Dutch GP. The returning Daniel Ricciardo crashed at Zandvoort and broke his wrist. This left Alpha Tauri without a second driver to partner Yuki Tsunoda. Fortunately for the team, Liam Lawson was at the track.
A Shock Debut turns into an Audition
Liam Lawson got a shock debut after Daniel Ricciardo’s accident. The Aussie will take a few weeks to recover from his broken wrist. Alpha Tauri announced that Liam Lawson will keep his seat till the Aussie gets race-fit. This is a huge chance for the young driver to impress Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.
Daniel’s misfortune, Lawson’s chance
Liam Lawson was having a relaxing Friday at the Dutch GP, learning from the garage. Daniel Ricciardo was on track, having himself been a mid-season replacement for the struggling Nyck de Vries. An incident involving Oscar Piastri left Daniel Ricciardo with a broken wrist, and Liam Lawson finally made his F1 debut.
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A Crazy Debut
Making your F1 debut without proper training is tough in itself. Making your debut while having missed both FP1 and FP2 is even tougher. Add a wet FP3, and this meant that Liam Lawson didn’t have any dry running before the Dutch GP qualifying.
The qualifying was a wet-to-dry session. Liam Lawson showed good pace and was just 4 tenths off Yuki Tsunoda in their first Q1 run. However, he underestimated the grip on his second set of inters and ended P20, more than a second down.
In a chaotic race start at the Dutch GP, Liam Lawson and Alpha Tauri made the right calls. At one point during the chaos, he was even ahead of Max Verstappen, before the Dutchman overtook him. The Dutch GP had a lot of uncertainty, incidents, and driver errors.
Liam Lawson should be proud of himself for bringing the car home. He even battled the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc for position, as the Monegasque suffered floor damage. In the final classification, he finished ahead of Yuki Tsunoda because of a time penalty.
Also Read: Dutch GP: Mercedes compound their problems on race day, George Russell retires
All said and done, it was a terrific debut for the young driver. He now has a chance to impress the bosses at Red Bull and secure a race seat for the near future.
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