Liam Lawson To Face F1 Penalty At First Race Upon Return Confirms Horner

Formula One driver Liam Lawson replaced former Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull's junior team VCARB. The outgoing Australian driver had not been having a good time in the sport over the past few seasons as he failed to recreate the success he had during the time he was racing for Red Bull. After the Singapore Grand Prix concluded, it was announced that Daniel Ricciardo will be losing his seat at VCARB and he will be replaced by Liam Lawson. It has now been confirmed that Liam Lawson upon his return to F1 at the American Grand Prix will be facing a grid penalty. 

Lawson Faces Grid Penalty Upon F1 Return 

Liam Lawson will make his return to Formula One at the upcoming American Grand Prix taking place in Austin, Texas. The new VCARB driver will be facing a grid drop as he will be inheriting several power components that were being used by Daniel Ricciardo uptill this point. This has been confirmed by Red Bull boss Christian Horner. 

“Well, he’ll be taking an engine penalty anyway, so he’s got a bit of a soft landing, or a soft re-entry.

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“But of course, he’s going to be gauged against his team mate. He was very quick against him last year. I think Yuki’s stepped it up a gear again this year. It’s just going to be fascinating to see how quickly he adapts, how quickly he gets on with it,” said Horner on Lawson's return to F1 and the penalty he will be facing. 

The Expectations Placed On Liam Lawson 

When asked about the expectations placed on Liam Lawson, Christian Horner stated it remains to be seen how he holds up against Yuki Tsunoda who is no longer a rookie and has experience under his belt.

“It’s difficult to say. Last year, Liam was quick from the outset. He’s a tough racer and he’s very adaptable. Certainly, the testing that he’s done for us in the Red Bull Racing car this year has been very encouraging. 

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“We know that Yuki is a very, very fast driver. He can definitely extract a lap and as he’s matured – because he’s not a rookie anymore, he’s in his fourth season of Grand Prix racing – he’s got a lot of experience under his belt now.

“Taking him as the data point, we saw where Daniel compared to Yuki, [so] it will just be very interesting to see how Liam performs over the remaining six races,” stated  Christian Horner.