Liam Lawson ramped up Formula 3 Championship standings taking impressive Race 1 win at Silverstone on Saturday and finishing 7th from 10th in reverse grid top 10 on Sunday. Lawson holds 5th Overall on 54 points heading into Round 5 at same venue next weekend.
Having qualified 2nd position, narrowly pipped from pole by Prema Racing Logan Sargeant, Lawson displayed phenomenal race-craft skills taking the lead in Race 1 by making pass around the outside of Sargeant at the iconic Silverstone circuit.
Known for historically fast track, with weather conditions, particularly changeable wind directions affecting racing, Liam knew when opportunity presented itself to take the lead- the Kiwi was brave enough to do it.
Liam: ‘We had a really good car today. We had done a lot of work between the last round and this round, so it is really good to see that work pay off. I made a small mistake at the end of the lap in the last complex and lost quite a bit of time. Had that not have happened… but then again everyone can always go faster. But I am still happy with the result’.
‘Our race pace hasn’t been too bad this year. Obviously, it is going to be interesting tomorrow as there is quite a bit deg around this track, so it is going to be tough. It depends on weather as well. Obviously today we had a really hot quali, but it should be a bit cooler in the morning, but we will see. Normally we haven’t been too bad in the races’.
To give some indication on how racing action can turn as quick as lights flick from red to green, F3 Race 2 reverse grid meant Lawson sliced his way up 3 places to 7th while on-track action was happening up front.
So much so, that Race 2 winner Alex Smolyar was penalized post-race 5 second time penalty for weaving-‘changing direction down the straight between corners 14 and 15- which violates the rule against manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers’. Quote FIA. Smolyar was relegated to 6th place.
Liam Race 2: ‘Today it just wasn’t the same. A really great start, made up some places and then I was driving conservatively so that I would have tyre last. Even though I was doing that the guys in front were definitely pushing a lot more but somehow they ended up driving away from me. I just didn’t have tyres for the second half of the race’.
‘That’s hard to understand and we have to understand it and figure out a way to avoid it happening again because I think it cost us a lot today. We could have been a lot higher up’.
Formula 3 Round 5 Silverstone August 7-9th.
Words: Sharon Cox.
Comments are closed.