Christian Horner has explained that Liam Lawson will get a "soft landing" upon returning to grand prix racing at the Circuit of the Americas. The 22-year-old has replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB for the remainder of the F1 season, this time likely on a permanent basis having deputised for the Australian last year. During a five-race stint in 2023, Lawson impressively scored points at the Singapore Grand Prix, having knocked out Max Verstappen in Q2 to reach the final part of qualifying the day prior. In that run, he finished ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in three of the four comparable rounds (the Japanese driver did not start the Italian Grand Prix), as his team-mate went scoreless over the period. However, despite his highly-anticipated return, the pressure will not immediately be on Lawson, who will be taking a power unit penalty in Austin, as told by the Red Bull team principal himself. When asked on the F1 Nation podcast what the expectations for the New Zealander will be in the Lone Star State, Horner replied: "Well, Austin, he'll be taking an engine penalty there anyway, so he's got a bit of a soft landing or soft re-entry."
However, over the course of the following five rounds, Lawson will be expected to prove a match for Tsunoda - at the least. Whilst recalling how well the New Zealander fared against the 24-year-old last term, Horner did acknowledge that the Japanese driver has taken a step forward in 2024. "Of course, he's [Lawson] going to be gaged against his team-mate," the 50-year-old said. "He was very quick against him last year. "I think Yuki stepped it up a gear again this year, so it's just gonna be fascinating to see how quickly he adapts, how quickly he gets on with it."
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