Liam Lawson responds to Christian Horner ‘soft landing’ engine penalty claim for US GP

Red Bull VCARB driver Liam Lawson says there’s no doubt the grid penalty he’ll take at this weekend’s US Grand Prix will be a hindrance as he makes his first appearance of the F1 2024 season.

The Kiwi driver returns to F1 as a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo for the final six races of F1 2024, but will take a 10-place grid drop for his first race back at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

Why is Liam Lawson being given a 10-place grid penalty for US Grand Prix?

While it may seem strange that a driver who hasn’t driven an F1 race yet this year is picking up a penalty for their very first race, it’s important to note the differentiation between the car and driver for the purposes of the engine rules.

The sporting regulations outline the allowances as being ‘per driver’, with those allowances being four internal combustion engines (ICE), four MGU-Hs, four MGU-Ks, four turbochargers (TC), two control electronics (CE) and two energy stores (ES).

However, Article 28.4 of the Sporting Regulations adds the rule that, “if a driver is replaced at any time during the Championship his replacement will be deemed to be the original driver for the purposes of assessing Power Unit usage.”

This changes the rule to being applicable to the car, rather than to the driver, despite the wording of the original Article in the regulations.

Not only does this keep costs in check in keeping with the spirit of the budgetary constraints of the financial regulations, but it prevents teams from employing tactical changes of drivers to add in fresh engines as a weapon in the championships.

As a result, through no fault of his own, Lawson will serve a grid penalty for the United States Grand Prix as Ricciardo had already reached his allocation of parts for the season – the penalty applies to the grand prix itself, and not the sprint race qualifying results.

Given it’s his first race back since his five-race stint as a substitute at VCARB (then AlphaTauri) last season, it’s a major blow to the Kiwi’s prospects as he bids to convince Red Bull of his worthiness for a full-time race seat in 2025.

Christian Horner brands engine penalty a ‘soft landing’ for Liam Lawson

Appearing on the F1 Nation podcast, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner confirmed that Lawson will be taking a drop of 10 places in Austin, which is yet to be formalised by the FIA, and referred to the engine penalty as “a bit of a soft landing” for the 22-year-old.

“In Austin, he’ll be taking an engine penalty anyway, so he’s got a bit of a soft landing or soft re-entry, Horner said.

“But of course, he’s going to be gauged against his team-mate [Yuki Tsunoda].

“He was very quick against him last year, I think Yuki stepped it up a gear again this year, so it’s just going to be fascinating to see how quickly he adapts, how quickly he gets on with it.”

While the engine penalty takes some of the pressure off Lawson in his first race back as it’s now impossible for him to match Tsunoda in terms of starting position for Sunday’s grand prix, and Lawson was asked about Horner’s “soft landing” assertion as he appeared on the F1 Nation podcast.

“It is, but, at the same time, it’s the same thing with how much pressure you put on yourself as a driver,” Lawson said.

“Everyone thinks about and has different perspectives on things but, for me, I want to have the best possible opportunity at performing.

“You could look at it like, yes, there’s less pressure, because I know that I’m starting off the back of the grid.

“But, at the same time, I think, as a driver, you want to have the best opportunity possible and I know that that’s going to hinder me for the race.

“So it’s not all green flags, let’s say that.”

More on Red Bull in F1

👉 All the mid-season driver swaps Red Bull have made in their F1 history

👉 Inside Red Bull: Christian Horner and the other major players in Red Bull’s hierarchy

What does Red Bull expect from Liam Lawson in his six-race audition?

With VCARB seeking a driver to replace Ricciardo on a full-time basis for F1 2025, Lawson is the leading candidate to land the vacant cockpit, provided he compares favourably against Tsunoda in these final six races.

There’s also the vague possibility that Lawson could even end up with Red Bull Racing, should he prove impressive alongside Tsunoda as Sergio Perez strives to rediscover the form he had at the start of the year – Red Bull was overtaken in the Constructors’ Championship by McLaren recently as Perez has failed to score close to Verstappen’s tally, although he has shown signs of bouncing back in recent races.

Lawson has already revealed the targets set out for him by Red Bull for his six races are to match Tsunoda’s form and score points.

And Horner says Red Bull is keeping a watching brief to see how Lawson performs in a short, pressure-filled window.

Asked what he is expecting from Lawson ahead of the last six races, Horner responded: “It’s difficult to say.

“Last year, Liam jumped in and he beat Yuki in Singapore and Japan and was quick from the outset.

“He’s a tough racer, we know that. He’s very adaptable and certainly, the testing that he’s done for us in the Red Bull Racing car this year has been very, very encouraging.

“We know that Yuki is a very, very fast driver and he can definitely extract a lap and he’s mature, because he’s not a rookie anymore. He’s in his fourth season of grand prix racing and has a lot of experience under his belt now.

“So taking him as the data point, we saw where Daniel compared to Yuki.

“It will just be very interesting to see how Liam performs over the remaining six races.”

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