After a chaotic F1 debut weekend where simply finishing the race unscathed was cause for huge praise from the paddock, Monza provided an opportunity for F1’s lone kiwi to show what he can do with a full week of preparation.
Having spent much of the week on the simulator at Scuderia Alpha Tauri’s home base in Faenza, expectations were high as Liam stepped into the paddock on Thursday. Oh, and it’s Alpha Tauri’s home race. No pressure.
Lawson is no stranger to Monza, having won here in DTM in 2021. This may have contributed to him looking comfortable in the AT04 from the get-go, clocking in consistent laps in both FP1 and FP2, finishing firmly within 6 tenths of his teammate in both sessions. When he finished ahead of Tsunoda in FP3, whispers began around the paddock that last weekend was no fluke.
Qualifying would turn those whispers into shouts. The Alternate tyre allocation system that F1 is trialing meant Liam was forced to run Q1 on the hard, a tyre he had precious little experience on. He adapted quickly to the notoriously difficult to fire-up tyre, as a powerful lap late in the session put him comfortably through to Q2. Carrying this momentum through to the next session, Liam placed his car 12th on the grid - just one and a half tenths off his experienced Alpha Tauri teammate.
Off the back of the bedlam that was the Dutch Grand Prix, Monza probably felt like a Sunday drive. Tsunoda’s retirement on the formation lap gifted Lawson a position before the race had even started, but left us thinking ‘could his car be next?’. Keeping his nose clean through the infamous Monza first-lap turn 1, Liam dropped one position before getting caught in a DRS train led by Alonso.
An aggressive strategy to escape the train had Liam first to pit, locking him into a two-stop strategy. The rest of the race saw him head-down, putting in consistent lap after lap until some brave defending late in the race saw Piastri forced to overtake him off the track - earning the Australian a penalty for his trouble. He finished 11th (after Piastri’s penalty was applied) and just outside of the points, something not lost on the young Kiwi; “I’m still learning the procedures and definitely starting to feel more comfortable in the car, but I’m just a little bit disappointed with my race, as I think we may have had the pace for points today”, he said in a statement from Alpha Tauri.
Now all eyes turn to Singapore and Daniel Ricciardo’s recovering hand. Opinions are divided whether Lawson will be back in the car at the street circuit. Lance Stroll’s miracle recovery at the beginning of the season cautions us to manage our expectations, yet Christian Horner isn’t ruling Liam out; “Singapore, I don’t think there’s any chance he’ll [Daniel] be ready for then, it would be optimistic for Japan,” said Horner.
Regardless of who partners Tsunoda in Singapore, Liam’s first full weekend as a Grand Prix driver has shown the paddock that he deserves to be in that seat every weekend.
Scott Dixon finishes strong in Portland, but Palou clinches Indycar Championship
It was always going to be an outside chance for Kiwi legend Scott Dixon to win a record-equalling seventh Indycar Championship in 2023, and despite a late-season comeback with two consecutive wins, his Chip Ganassi teammate, Alex Palou, has secured the 2023 season with one race to go.
Dixon headed to Portland second in the championship behind Palou, but the Spaniard would only need to finish on the podium to secure the title for 2023. The Kiwi, as always, has been consistent this season but couldn't secure a race win until the back end of the schedule, winning the two preceding races before Portland to keep his championship battle alive.
Dixon led for much of the race, with Palou in second, but their positions switched mid-race when the Kiwi pitted and changed tires. Dixon remained in contention for a win, closing the gap between him and Palou by over three seconds. Then, a safety car intervention on lap 88 would have given Dixon a chance within striking distance, but race control timed the safety car release so that Felix Rosenqvist leapfrogged Dixon on pit exit on cold tyres. Under normal race conditions, Dixon would have overtaken Rosenqvist with warmer tyres. Instead, Rosenqvist gained an advantage from the safety car. Furious, Dixon let his frustrations be known over the team radio but was unable to overtake Rosenqvist once their tyre performance had equalised. Dixon was forced to follow home in third.
Meanwhile, Scott McLaughlin finished 9th to stay third in the championship.Fellow Kiwi Marcus Armstrong was running very well and looking for a personal best race result, but a bungled tire change saw him lose time in pit lane. Thankfully, his main rival in the Rookie of the Year battle, Agustin Canapino, spun out of the race just a few laps later. The Indycar season now heads to the iconic Laguna Seca for the final round next week.
Frustration for McElrea, taken out on turn one
Kiwi driver, Hunter McElrea had his race weekend and his Indy Car NXT championship possibilities ruined after a multi-car pile up unfolded on the first lap at Portland. McElra who had qualified on the front row didn’t get the best start and was engulfed with cars around him heading into turn one.
Turn one at Portland is a notorious chicane, often referred to as Calamity Corner, and it certainly lived up to its reputation with the cars of Reece Gold, Josh Pierson, Kyffin Simpson, McElrea, Jacob Abel and Victor Franzoni all heading into the corner at once.
McElrea was ahead, when a chain reaction behind him collected his car and severely damaged the nose cone and front left. Championship leader, Chrsitian Rasmussen was also hit from behind in the incident, damaging its floor and punting it into a spin in Turn 1, but Rasmussen was able to continue.
The race restarted and McElrea was able to rejoin but clearly didn’t have the pace with some damage to his car.
Rasmussen was able to finish in 5th, McElrea struggled on to P15. McElrea remains second in the championship but 65 points behind Rasmussen, is no longer in contention for the championship win.
