Lawson doesn't win Super Formula title: hasn't impressed Marko enough yet

Liam Lawson failed to clinch the Super Formula title. The New Zealander was already facing a tough task and ended up eight points short of the title.

After finishing third in the 2022 F2 championship, Lawson was sent to the Super Formula championship by Helmut Marko with a clear mission: to perform consistently at an even higher level. Lawson showed he had the speed, now he needed to step up and become champion, just as Pierre Gasly once did in the Japanese class. Lawson explained this in detail at the start of 2023 in an exclusive interview with GPblog.

Lawson started the season fantastically with a win, yet had some down days during the season. Especially his 13th place in Motegi ended up costing him a lot of points, which he could have put to good use at the end of the season.

Lawson cannot convince Marko yet

In the final race weekend, there was still a chance for Lawson to secure the title, but after a less successful first qualifying and race on Saturday, the New Zealander faced an almost impossible task on Sunday. Lawson still grabbed pole position for the final race of the season, but gave that first spot away at the start to Kakunoshin Ohta.

Lawson did not regain that spot and finished second. This kept him ahead of his rivals in the title race, but Ritomo Miyata needed only third place to clinch his first Super Formula title. Lawson did still climb to second place in the championship, finishing as Team Mugen's best driver.

Lawson did not win a title with his second place in the championship, but has already lost the battle for a seat at Red Bull anyway. Helmut Marko has opted to stick with Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri, despite Lawson's strong performance during his five Grands Prix as the Australian's replacement.