Liam Lawson admits he expected Fernando Alonso to be tougher with him during their on-track battle as the RB driver recovered from 19th on the grid to score points in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix.
Alonso was annoyed at Lawson’s driving in the Sprint on Saturday, calling the New Zealander “an idiot” on team radio and then arguing with him after climbing out of their cars post-race. There was also a moment between the two leaving the pits for qualifying but Lawson overtook the Aston Martin during his first stint on Sunday and felt there was no lingering grudge between the two.
“He was actually nice today!” Lawson said after finishing ninth. “I expected him to fight me a little bit more but it was good. I think it was smart from both of us, for that part of the race it was very early on and I think the hard was working for us quite well at that point. Obviously he’s very experienced, much more experienced than I am, there’s obviously things I can learn from him, so I’m happy with the race.
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“I remember being a kid watching him on TV when I was racing go-karts, and obviously somebody that I have a huge amount of respect for and what he’s done in Formula 1. So there’s things that guys like him I can learn a lot off.”
Lawson gained 10 places on his first grand prix start in a year, and admitted the points return – ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda – was crucial in showing Red Bull what he is capable of.
“It’s definitely important,” he said. “Obviously it’s also what I’m here to – I’ve got a goal of Formula 1 and I know this race is very important. It’s doing exactly what I’m here to do. Five more very important races as well to focus on.
“I just settled in and the hard tire worked really, really well for us. A big step with the car from [Saturday], which is really positive. It’s hard to do that in a weekend – from where you start it’s hard to make a really big step like that and we did that because of how hard the guys worked on the car. So I’m really happy.
“It was definitely tricky but the car was working well, and when you have a car that’s doing exactly what you want it to do it puts you in a good window. I’ve also been preparing pretty hard for this for the last 12 months, I knew that at some point the opportunity should come, so training-wise we’ve been working very hard and being ready for it.”