Horner identifies Lawson 'flash of light' on dismal Red Bull debut

Christian Horner has defended Liam Lawson's dismal Red Bull debut, pointing to the fact he set the second-fastest lap of the race.

After a poor Friday, Lawson's RB21 developed an engine problem early into FP3, limiting him to no laps.

He was then dumped in Q1 and ultimately started from the pit lane after Red Bull made set-up changes in parc ferme.

Lawson's tricky debut came to an end during the mid-race rain shower as he stayed out on medium tyres, but aquaplaned off at Turn 2, collecting the barrier and sending himself into retirement as Lando Norris led home Max Verstappen and George Russell.

Reflecting on the Kiwi's first weekend as a Red Bull driver, Horner was full of praise for the driver with just 12 grands prix to his name.

"It was a difficult weekend for him, we changed the car to put a bit more downforce on as it is a very hard track to overtake at," Horner told media including RacingNews365.

"We took a risk of leaving him out because he was outside the points and we thought: 'You know what, roll the dice and maybe it'll come right.'

"But at exactly that point, it started to rain more, so it is difficult to blame him for that last spin, the one flash of light he can take out of it was on the dry tyres, he actually posted the second fastest lap of the grand prix, a 1:22.9 versus Max's 1:23.0, and Lando did a 1:22.1.

"That is one positive we can take, but having missed FP3 put him on the back foot, and then the pressure builds.

"He grabbed a brake on the second set of tyres, then on the third he was half a second up [to get into Q2], and then there was another mistake.”

Horner admitted he is expecting another tough weekend for Lawson next weekend in China - a new venue for the 23-year-old, as well as the sprint format.

"Next weekend will be tough because it is a sprint race at a track he's not been to before,” Horner added.

“He's been pretty resilient here, it wasn't representative of what he is capable of."