F1 News
Lawson's attempts to handle RB21 backfire: '24 kph down on Verstappen'
Former F1 driver, and current analyst for F1TV, Jolyon Palmer, has weighed in on where he believes Liam Lawson's underperformance at Red Bull Racing lies, and argues the New Zealander's attempts to mitigate his struggles simply make him slow.
In the Pre-race show ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, Palmer and fellow analyst, Alex Brundle, were discussing Lawson's complicated situation at length. Palmer then highlighted a remarkable stat that shows the steep hill the new Red Bull driver has to climb.
Lwason on knife edge, 24 kph down on Verstappen at Turn 1
"He was 24 kph down on max, coming through the first corner to start the lap," said Palmer, as Brundle replied: "And he looks it, he looks it doesn't he?"
Palmer then outlines the difficult context at the moment for Lawson. "He's on a knife edge between trying to match Max [Verstappen] and making mistakes, which is what he's done in two qualifying [sessions] so far."
But as it stands, Lawson's attempts at getting a hang of the RB21 have simply backfired on him. "And then actually trying to take pace off and be consistent, but then just be really slow."
Lawson will start the Chinese Grand Prix from the pitlane. After qualifying in P20, Red Bull opted to break Parc Fermé rules and make changes to the New Zealander's RB21 in an effort to help him make up as much ground on his rivals as possible.