© Getty ImagesAwesome LawsonUnited States Grand Prix Debrief
“Youonlygetonechancetomakeafirstimpression”sothesayinggoes,butthere’snodenyingthatLiamLawsonmadeanotherone,rejoiningtheteamfortherestoftheseason,madeabigimpressiononhisreturntothecockpit,withabrilliantdrivetoninthplaceinAustin.
The Circuit of the Americas has provided a truly classic backdrop to the United States Grand Prix for twelve years now. Set in scrubland to the southeast of the city the track is very popular with the drivers as overtaking and wheel to wheel action are a regular feature here. That was certainly the case on Sunday, as this season continues to deliver some of the best racing the sport has witnessed in recent years.
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Like the majority of teams, we brought some upgrades here for the VCARB 01s, but the new element of our package that attracted the most attention was the return of Liam Lawson, racing alongside Yuki for the first time since last year’s Qatar Grand Prix. Making his return to racing on a demanding track like COTA, on a Sprint weekend was certainly a big ask, but he responded in fine style, qualifying 15th for Saturday’s 100 kilometre Sprint race in which he eventually finished 16th.
Yuki’s race, in his own words was “a bit up and down”, finishing up 11th. Next up was qualifying for the Grand Prix and our two were once again on great form with Liam, who would be starting from the back of the grid because of a pre-planned engine change penalty, helping Yuki by giving him a tow to boost his speeds down the straight. Yuki was 11th and Liam 15th, which became 10th and 19th as George Russell had to start from pit lane.
Smile And Wave Boys. Smile And Waves© Getty Images
Come Sunday, it was time to put away the Stetson hats and cowboy boots and start the main event. We put Liam on the Hard tyre, aiming to go for a long first stint, while Yuki joined the majority on the Medium. Surely our Kiwi couldn’t score points from 19th. “Hold my Red Bull!” he said. On the opening lap he moved up five places to 14th and then 13th on lap 2! He moved further up the order with some overtakes and then gaining places as the Medium runners pitted: a truly brilliant performance, partly due to a huge effort from the entire team to get him race-ready after his long absence.
Yuki gained one place on the opening lap, but after his pit stop, the Hard tyre didn’t work so well for him and he dropped back, not helped by a spin in the closing stages and he crossed the line in 14th place. Haas have now crept two points ahead of us and we hope to do something about that in just a few days time in Mexico City.