Grid penalty awaits Red Bull’s Lawson at US Grand Prix

London — New Zealander Liam Lawson will be hit with an immediate grid penalty when he returns to Formula One at October’s US Grand Prix in Austin, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner confirmed.

Lawson, 22, is replacing dropped Australian Daniel Ricciardo for the last six races of the season alongside Yuki Tsunoda at the Red Bull-owned RB team, with Austin a sprint weekend on October 19-20.

The Kiwi impressed after five races last season when Ricciardo was injured and is being assessed for a 2025 drive with RB and a possible longer term future with Red Bull.

“In Austin, he’ll be taking an engine penalty there anyway,” Horner told Formula One’s F1 Nation podcast. “So he’s got a bit of a soft landing, or soft re-entry.

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

The penalty, inherited from Ricciardo, for exceeding the season’s engine allocation is 10 places in the first instance.

Lawson told the New Zealand Herald that he needed to perform and nothing was set in stone.

“I’ve been given this opportunity for a reason, but it’s always performance-based,” he said. “Even when you have a full-year contract, or a multiyear contract, those can be broken. It’s not set in stone, I’m not guaranteed racing next year.

“That’s the target, that’s why they’ve given me this opportunity, to prepare me for hopefully driving next year. But they still need to evaluate how I go in the car.”

Reuters