Liam Lawson didn't have as strong a showing at the Qatar Grand Prix this weekend, crashing out on lap one of the sprint race and lacking pace in the GP.
Meanwhile with a $600,000 scholarship on offer, young Kiwi driver, Callum Hedge relinquished his seat in the Porsche Carrera Cup races this weekend at Bathurst, and was again in the USA battling for the Formula Regional Americas Championship.
A challenging weekend for Liam Lawson who crashed out of the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race at turn one, while Max Verstappen clinched his third consecutive Formula One title.
Lawson, starting from 18th in his final race for AlphaTauri before Daniel Ricciardo's return, went off track on the first lap and had to reset for the Grand Prix.
Lawson then would start the 57 lap Grand Prix on soft tyres and the FIA had called for an 18 lap limit on a set of tyres at the Grand Prix, this made strategy more challenging than in other races.
Ultimately the pace didn’t seem to be there for Lawson on this occasion. Heading into Qatar, it was expected keeping within track limits would’ve been an issue and reduced grip may have further hurt Lawson’s compounded chances as he was the first driver to receive a 5 second penalty for exceeding track limits.
He ended up finishing the race in 17th. But the mark he has made on the sport in his brief experience has been impressive, it will be interesting to see what opportunities are presented as a reserve driver next year.
Hedge could’ve sewn up the championship with a win, but the DNF means the Kiwi has to do it all again at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas in November.
Callum Hedge went from a spin to a win in a thrilling opening race of the weekend and the Aucklander was in a heated battle on track and for the championship title with his Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport teammate Ryan Shehan.
Shehan was filling Hedge’s mirrors, less than half a second apart from the Kiwi, and finally got his shot at the point position as Hedge locked up entering Oak Tree bend and spun through the grass.
With just over 12 minutes left on the clock, Shehan led the field to green as the race resumed, but then Shehan had an off on the same corner, dropping him to third in the running order, as Hedge inherited the lead to the flag and extend his points lead.
That competition between Hedge and Shehan continued in race 2 of the weekend, but Hedge couldn’t be caught in a race that stayed green from lights to checkered flag, Hedge ran a perfect race to lead every corner of every lap en route to his 11th victory of the season. With two laps complete, the duo had a five-second gap on the rest of the field and were steadily driving away. Hedge, however, was steadily outpacing Shehan, growing his lead by nearly a second a lap.
Hedge needed to win race 3 to secure the championship and that result was looking inevitable, but in a cruel twist, Hedge’s rear suspension broke as he was gapping the field. His car bottoming out on the circuit and spearing him off the circuit. His race was done and Hedge scored no points in the crucial third race, Shehan was extended a lifeline in the championship.
Hedge still leads the championship having won 11 of the 15 races so far, but just 55 points separate the two Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport drivers.
The young gun will look to claim championship victory at the circuit of the Americas in November 03-06 (NZ Time).
