Liam Lawson was right behind Max Verstappen when his teammate violently crashed his Red Bull on the first lap at Zandvoort. The New Zealander describes extremely tricky conditions with slick tires.
Read more Three drivers penalized with penalty points after the Dutch Grand Prix
Liam Lawson had a front-row seat during the impressive accident of Max Verstappen at the Dutch Grand Prix. Starting eighth, just behind his teammate, the New Zealander saw the Red Bull of the four-time world champion suddenly lose control in the last corner.
Lawson especially had to react very quickly when Verstappen’s crashed car came back onto the track. He managed to avoid it and continue his race, ultimately finishing in seventh place.
After the finish, the Red Bull driver emphasized the difficulty of the conditions encountered during that first lap, with grip changing drastically from one sector to another.
“It was simply impossible”
A heavy shower had hit Zandvoort before the start, but conditions were dry enough for all drivers to choose to start on slick tires.
The problem was that the track was far from uniform. The first half of the lap was almost dry, while the last corners remained particularly wet.
Asked about the difficulty of driving in these conditions, Lawson did not hesitate.
“It was simply impossible.”
The New Zealander explains that the contrast between the different parts of the circuit made it particularly difficult to assess the available grip.
“The entire first half of the circuit was dry, then the last two corners were completely soaked.”
With the power of current cars and dry-weather tires, the slightest too-aggressive acceleration could then cause a loss of control.
“It was really easy for this kind of thing to happen with so much power and slick tires.”
Lawson chose to ease off
Lawson had precisely decided not to take any risks when arriving at this part of the circuit. The Red Bull driver admits he was unable to precisely determine the level of available grip.
“On my side, I really eased off because, honestly, I had no confidence about the level of grip we were going to find there.”
Read more George Russell accepts Mercedes’ instructions: «It was the right decision»
In front of him, Verstappen had taken a different approach. The Dutchman explained after his retirement that he had spotted a drier section and thought he could start accelerating again.
The rear of his RB22 immediately lost grip. Verstappen then hit the outer wall violently before his car crossed the track again.
Lawson believes his teammate was probably trying to stay close enough to the cars ahead to prepare an attack.
“I think Max was probably trying to get closer to attempt an overtake, but he simply lost the car.”
Lawson narrowly avoids Verstappen’s Red Bull
The situation could have taken an even more spectacular turn for Red Bull. After the first impact, Verstappen’s car slid down the banking and came back onto the racing line.
Lawson was immediately behind and had to make an evasive maneuver to avoid hitting his teammate.
The large amount of debris left on the track quickly forced race control to stop the race with a red flag.
Verstappen fortunately emerged unscathed from the accident, even though his likely last home Grand Prix ended on the first lap.
A seventh place for Lawson
Lawson, for his part, took advantage of this race to confirm his convincing return with Red Bull. Called to replace Isack Hadjar, injured, he had already qualified eighth, only 115 thousandths behind Verstappen.
The New Zealander then had a relatively lonely race after the restart. Despite a ten-second penalty for not slowing down enough under yellow flag later in the race, he kept his seventh place.
A solid result for Lawson, but his first lap will be mainly remembered for the images of Verstappen’s Red Bull crossing the track just in front of him.
Read more Kimi Antonelli greets Russell after the Mercedes instruction at Zandvoort