Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls · P9 · 59 p

The Racing Bulls car currently sits in the back half (1.67 s/lap off the fastest car in race pace). Lawson qualifies closer to the front than the races show (quali 1.38, race 1.52 s/lap). The trend is upward: over the last five races the race-pace gap has shrunk by 0.47 s/lap. In wheel-to-wheel combat Lawson falls short of the car's potential: the driver share of attack is -0.27 s/lap, a bigger pace advantage than the team-mate's is needed to get by. Lawson is hard to pass (defence +0.74 s/lap, car and driver combined). Tyre management is better than the field's: Lawson's stints lose less pace per lap than others on the same compound.

Lawson and Lindblad have been team-mates in 13 of 16 races; the comparison below covers those races. In qualifying Lawson leads the intra-team qualifying battle 8–5, by 0.016 s/lap on average in Lawson's favour. In races where both were classified: 7–3 to Lawson, and in race pace Lawson is 0.167 s/lap quicker over the season. Current form (weighted to recent races) gives Lawson an edge of 0.40 s/lap. Tyre management is better than the team-mate's (-0.018 against +0.002 s/lap stint slope versus the field).