Liam Lawson finished the Italian Grand Prix of Formula 1 only in 14th position, after a race marked by a touch and an extra pit stop. The driver, however, stated that he had enough pace to move up through the pack.
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Lawson started from the pit lane and gained several positions already in the first lap, but lost part of the front wing after contact with Nico Hulkenberg during the restart. The damage forced the driver to make a stop and caused a loss of more than thirty seconds, compromising his chances of recovery.
“It was a pretty tough race. I had a very good first lap coming out of the pit lane and gained several positions, but on the restart I lost part of the front wing after contact with Nico, so I had to stop and lost more than 30 seconds,” Lawson explained.
The driver found the incident especially frustrating because the car had good pace for the race. According to him, the dynamics of the strategies after the restart also made a comeback difficult, as practically no one returned to the pits, except for the stops made during the VSC.
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“It’s a shame, because we had very good speed for the race, but with the way the strategies unfolded after the restart, no one really stopped again, besides the stops under VSC. Unfortunately, we had too much time to recover,” he added.
Despite the result, Lawson highlighted the progress made by the team after the problems faced on Saturday and assessed that there was potential for a much better recovery without the setbacks: “Without the problems, I think we had a good chance to move up through the pack,” he concluded.
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