Liam Lawson has issued an apology to a Formula 1 rival following a collision that saw the Kiwi driver go spinning out of contention in the Qatar Grand Prix.
Lawson has again missed out on points, finishing 14th in Monday morning’s (NZT) Qatar Grand Prix after making contact with Valtteri Bottas on lap five.
Freshly crowned Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen won an incident packed race from Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.
The drama started on the opening lap when Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll were involved in a turn one incident caused by Hulkenberg.
After four laps under the safety car, Lawson went for a turn one pass on Bottas on the restart but he made contact with him and the Kiwi driver went spinning backwards off the track.
Liam Lawson has finished 14th in the Qatar Grand Prix. Darko Bandic / AP
Lawson was handed a 10 second time penalty for causing the incident and post race, has received two penalty points against his super licence. Alex Albon and Stroll were also handed two penalty points out of the Qatar Grand Prix.
“I thought I had more grip than I did and I went into turn one trying to make the move,” Lawson told reporters post race. “I got halfway around the corner and realised I didn’t have the grip.”
Lawson, who did a stellar job to keep the car running to enable him to remain in the race, believes he spun because he was trying so hard to not make contact with Bottas.
“I’m sorry for that, it wasn’t my intention,” he said of the contact.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was set to finish second before being handed a 10 second stop-go penalty, that had to be served immediately, for failing to slow down for double yellow flags.
Lawson’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda finished 13th, with Albon the last of the running cars in 15th.
At their second stop, under the safety car, Tsunoda and Lawson were given soft tyres that degraded quickly around the Lusail International Circuit and prevented a late challenge at points when other cars were also struggling.
Lawson was semi-satisfied with his recovery after the incident with Bottas but remained upset with the result.
Max Verstappen celebrates winning an incident packed Qatar Grand Prix.Altaf Qadri / AP
“Overall we weren’t quick enough to be fighting with the guys we need to be fighting with,” Lawson said.
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After starting the race four points behind Hass for sixth in the constructors’ championship, Tsunoda and Lawson’s VCARB team have lost huge ground in that championship race.
Pierre Gasly’s fifth has moved Alpine into sixth spot on 59 points with Haas in seventh with 54 points and the junior Red Bull team remaining on 46.
Despite Alpine’s move up the constructors ladder to sixth, Esteban Ocon has been let go before the season finale in Abu Dhabi next week.
Australian driver Jack Doohan, who will join Alpine next year, will replace Ocon for the final race of the season.
Under pressure Red Bull driver Sergio Perez was one of five drivers who failed to finish, alongside Hulkenberg, Stroll, Franco and Ocon.
The race was thrown into chaos on lap 32 when Alex Albon’s wing mirror came off on the front straight and then Bottas, who ended up in 11th, hit it.
Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz picked up punctures, seemingly from the wing mirror debris.
Hamilton suffered a penalty for jumping the start and then another for speeding in pit lane.
Zhou Guanyu finished eighth to give Kick Sauber their first points of the season in the penultimate race of the year.
Article from Stuff Nz
