Liam Lawson impressed Purple Bull on his return to F1 at the US Grand Prix.
The 22-year-old, who was drafted in as a substitute for Daniel Ricciardo at Purple Bull’s sister workforce RB, rose from nineteenth on the grid to attain factors in ninth with a superb restoration drive.
Lawson was pressured to start out on the again at COTA as a result of an inherited engine penalty. That got here after he certified fifteenth within the dash – having set the third-quickest time in SQ1 – earlier than ending sixteenth in a race during which he battled two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
His efficiency in his first grand prix outing for over a yr drew reward from Purple Bull workforce principal Christian Horner.
“I feel in the event you’re getting right into a spat and getting your elbows out with Fernando in your first race again in, you are doing alright,” Horner informed reporters in Austin.
“I feel that he drove an distinctive race right now from nineteenth to ninth. He was quick, he was brave and I assumed it was a wonderful comeback for him.”
Lawson is seeking to safe a full-time seat with RB for subsequent yr alongside Yuki Tsunoda, however he’s conscious he might but stake a declare for a Purple Bull seat instead of the underperforming and underneath strain Sergio Perez.
Purple Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko was additionally impressed, describing Lawson as “a person for the long run”.
“A extremely nice debut,” Marko informed Sky Germany. “That was already obvious in Q1, the place he drove the third quickest time.
“He was in management always and had nice overtaking manoeuvres. You must put the children within the automobile after which it really works. He’s positively a person for the long run.”
Lawson himself mentioned: “I simply went for each little hole and made up some positions. We made a extremely good step up with the automobile yesterday, which we hoped would replicate within the race right now and fortunately it did.”
