How Liam Lawson achieved a dream debut result

But just how did the Kiwi jump from the back of the grid into the points? Achieving a feat near impossible for a mid-fielder in the current state of Formula 1.

If you couldn’t quite wrap your head around the result was achieved, you weren’t alone, with Lawson’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda ‘animatedly’ expressing “I don’t understand how that happened” over the team radio as the Kiwi exited the pits infront of him. He was just saying what we were all thinking.

Relegated to a support role in qualifying due to his engine related grid-penalties after an underwhelming Sprint race, if Lawson had been able to run a full qualifying programme, our expectations for his pace may have been better adjusted; though his time good enough for P3 in Q1 was a precursor to how he’d fair in the points-paying event on Sunday.

Right off the bat, Liam gained five places in turn one when he made it cleanly through contact that collected a number of the midfield runners. The 22-year-old was also one of only a few drivers to start the race on the Hard tyre, meaning he’d be running a longer and slower first stint than his teammate who started on the Medium compound.

As the race progressed, it quickly became apparent that Lawson had a pace advantage over his teammate who was running the softer tyre and should theoretically should have been lapping 0.5s faster per lap.

This pace advantage meant that when it was finally time to come into the pits, he had managed to undercut Tsunoda on what should have been a slower tyre and came out just ahead of his teammate on fresh medium tyres, compared to the now relatively old hards that Tsunoda had pitted for earlier in the race. This is what sparked Tsunoda’s exasperated radio message.

Bolstered by the confidence from his fresh tyres, Lawson put his head down and charged forward, performing a clean overtake on Alpines Pierre Gasly and securing himself a career best equaling result on his full-time debut.

Key members up and down the paddock took note, including Red Bull boss Christian Horner:

“Well, it’s a sample of one and I thought he jumped in and he looked like a veteran to be honest with you.

“I mean, he’s a great racer. I think he can be very happy with that drive today.

“I thought he drove a great Grand Prix, I mean starting 19th, finishing in the points with some great overtakes.”

Now all eyes move forward to what many are considering a Mexican standoff for the Red Bull Racing seat next to Max Verstappen at the Mexican Grand Prix, with whispers that incumbent Sergio Perez could be replaced before the end of the season to reinvigorate Red Bull’s constructors’ championship fight.

The world champions were amazed when McLaren come out of nowhere and swept away the lead of the championship, but the increased difficulties with their car’s performance combined with a driver who can’t seem to extract any pace from it mean Red Bull now find themselves having to again look backwards when they should be looking forward, with Ferrari moving to within eight points of them after the US Grand Prix.

With the difference between second and third in the constructor’s championship being millions of dollars, Red Bull may be forced to replace the Mexican with a driver they think can bring them back into the fight. Who better than a certain Kiwi who just outclassed his experienced teammate and proven that he is here to stay.