Liam Lawson wins in Super Formula debut
Kiwi driver Liam Lawson has won on debut in Japan's Super Formula Championship at Fuji.
Apr 10, 2023
Lawson qualified third on the grid for the 41 lap race but moved into second on lap 8 following a safety car restart, settling in behind Mugen teammate and two-time Champion, Tomoki Nojiri.
Lawson couldn’t match Nojiri's pace in the earlier stages, even falling as much as two seconds behind Nojiri at one point.
But with a tyre change on lap 21 Lawson could extract the best from his car and quickly halved the gap to P1.
Nojiri pitted a lap later and managed to hold on to the lead of the race, but Lawson used his tyre temperature advantage to seize the lead and stretch that out to five seconds.
The race concluded under safety car following a collision between Giuliano Alesi and Nirei Fukuzumi.
Following the race Lawson praised the Team Mugen car and crew.
“Before qualifying I’d necer driven this place but the car felt hooked up straight away and the speed was there. So grateful to the team for the hard work.”
Lawson is the first Red Bull junior since Pierre Gasly to win a race in Super Formula since Pierre Gasly and he is the first driver to win on debut in the modern era of Japan’s top tier single-seater series.
It’s a significant victory and one that undoubtedly puts Lawson’s stocks up as the 21 year old from Pukekohe eyes a career in F1.
Head of Red Bull’s driver development programme, Helmut Marko has commented Japan’s Super Formula is “closer to F1 than F2”. While there are no guarantees, if Lawson performs well this season, he will have done more than enough to prove his readiness for a full-time opportunity in F1.
Lawson has remarkably won on debut in 9 of the 10 championships he has contested. Those coming in Formula First, Formula Ford, Formula 4, Formula 3 Asia, European Formula Open, Toyota Racing Series, DTM, Formula 2, Super Formula.
The only category he hasn’t won in on debut was FIA FF3where he retired with mechanical failure. However, he won at the opening F3 round of the following season.
