Liam Lawson was left frustrated after narrowly missing out on points to Fernando Alonso at the United States Grand Prix – and reckons one particular moment may have cost him his chance of scoring.
Lawson has scored points on just one occasion across the last five weekends, and came agonisingly close to adding to his tally on Sunday.
Battling with Alonso throughout, he was also forced to pay close attention to the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, who recovered from 19th place, after a five-place grid penalty, to finish 12th. Lawson finished just one place ahead of Stroll in 11th.
“The start was not amazing,” reflected the Racing Bulls driver. “I just got boxed at Turn 1 and lost a place, which in the end is probably what has cost us a point. But overall, we weren’t really quick enough, to be honest.
“It’s very hard to overtake, and Aston had us basically one in front and one behind today; they basically had control of us, which was frustrating. I just couldn’t overtake Fernando, and was having to defend from behind, so a frustrating race.”
Asked if it was a weekend of missed opportunities, Lawson added: “I think we had points available all weekend that we’ve missed out on, so it’s pretty frustrating.”
It was a similar story for Isack Hadjar. After a crash in Qualifying saw him start from the back of the pack, the Frenchman started with hard tyres fitted, in a bid to gain positions should an early accident occur, as it had in the Sprint. But it didn’t come together and Hadjar eventually finished in 16th, with the highlight of his race being a battle with Pierre Gasly in the final stages.
“This weekend, I haven’t shown real pace, and my confidence in the car is not great, so we were not very competitive,” he said afterwards.
“Obviously, the strategy was betting on a long first stint and hoping for a Safety Car, but it was a very clean race, apparently. Just a very boring race. At least I had fun with Pierre at the end.”
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