Liam Lawson was left to lament a “tough” Miami Grand Prix as he was forced to retire following Lap 1 contact, while team mate Isack Hadjar finished agonisingly close to points in 11th.
The Grand Prix capped a disappointing weekend for Racing Bulls, with Lawson initially scoring points in the Sprint before being handed a time penalty that dropped him down the order after contact with Fernando Alonso.
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More contact followed in the Grand Prix, this time with Jack Doohan – who, it was announced on Wednesday, would be benched at Alpine in favour of Franco Colapinto for at least the next five rounds – who tapped Lawson into a spin in the first corner.
That dropped the New Zealander to last and, although he tried to continue, the damage was too great and he wound up retiring midway through the race.
“I don’t really know what happened,” Lawson explained. “I had a really good launch, and a gap opened up through the middle into Turn 1 so I took it and then I just felt a hit from the side into Turn 1. I don’t know what happened, I need to watch it back but then it obviously destroyed the floor so we had to retire.
