Lawson 'maximised' Japanese GP but lacked speed to score points

Liam Lawson felt that he had "maximized" with AlphaTauri the opportunites that had come his way in the Japanese Grand Prix, the Kiwi ruing a lack of pace that precluded him from scoring a top-ten finish.

Lawson qualified P11 and ran as high as ninth in the opening stages of the race at Suzuka, his fourth outing in F1 with AlphaTauri.

The Kiwi relied on a two-stop strategy during which he used all three compounds supplied by Pirelli. But high degradation set in during his second stint on the medium tyre, resulting in him losing ground to his Alpine rivals.

In the end, a solid final stint on the hard rubber landed him in P11, just outside the points.

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"We didn’t quite have the speed today," he said. "To be honest, the only guys that we were really racing today were the Alpines and they were too quick.

"It meant that we were just outside the points unfortunately. I feel like we pretty much maximised [opportunities].

Lawson enjoyed a good scrap in the race with his AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda, the F1 rookie finishing just ahead of the local hero.

"The fight with Yuki was aggressive, but I think it was a fair race," he said. "Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and I think neither of us had the pace to make the top 10."

Asked if beating his teammate to the checkered flag was a source of satisfaction, Lawson suggested the achievement was of no particular importance given that he had not scored any points.

It was also not a consolation following the news that he would be spending 2024 in a reserve role once again with Red Bull, despite his impressive performances of late in F1.

"Not satisfaction," he said. "I want to be in a seat and I don’t have one right now. It’s basically just doing the best job I can each time I get into the car. I’ll keep doing that for as long as I’m driving."

As Daniel Ricciardo continues his recovery process, Lawson is expected to enjoy one final outing with AlphaTauri at Qatar next week begore the Aussie returns to racing in Austin.

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