Lawson aims to recover from ‘tough’ time

The first Red Bull race weekend could not have been much harder for Liam Lawson at Melbourne.

The Kiwi arrived at Albert Park with high hopes as Sergio Perez’s replacement at the top team after 11 starts at Racing Bulls.

But it proved to be a baptism of fire for the 23-year-old being eliminated in Q1 and started from the pit lane.

Lawson made minimal progress until staying out on Mediums during the late rain shower.

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However, the tyre gamble did not pay off as the Kiwi spun up his rear tires and slid into the Turn 2 barriers in similar style to his Racing Bulls replacement Isack Hadjar.

Lawson was downbeat after the accident and revealed he had been battling “tyre issues” throughout.

“We took a chance, hoping that at least half of the track would stay dry,” Lawson said.

“We knew that sector three was bad, but we thought that sector one would stay a bit drier, so we carried on. 

“Unfortunately, it was bucketing down with rain. At that point, to be honest, I’d backed out of pushing because it was so wet. 

“I was just trying to stay on the track. But obviously, it’s not ideal.

“We were really struggling to be honest. I had a lot of tyre issues with the front early on in the race, so it’s just been a tough weekend.”

Lawson will be looking to bounce back at another new track, Shanghai this weekend.

Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

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