Liam Lawson delivers damning indictment on new F1 era

Liam Lawson has branded the new F1 regulations cycle "not racing" that he is "used to", whilst dismissing the notion that it is exciting.

The Racing Bulls driver claimed that the enjoyment factor of the new cars is "not super high" after qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Due to line-up P14 at the Shanghai International Circuit, the New Zealander could not hide his dissatisfaction with the opening two rounds of F1's new era.

The drivers have been vocal about their feelings towards the new regulations, with their criticisms ranging from the cars not being fun to drive to legitimate safety concerns, particularly surrounding starts and the first lap and active-aerodynamic straight mode zones.

Max Verstappen has led the charge on the former point, whilst the likes of Carlos Sainz and George Russell have tackled the latter.

The vast majority have labelled the new cars and rules "too complex" or "unnecessarily complicated", and numerous drivers have used words like "fake" and "artificial" to describe the racing.

However, it has been argued by many that the opening stages or races — at least — are proving entertaining, even if somewhat manipulated.

But when it was put to Lawson that the first few laps of the sprint in China were exciting, he pointed out that the plentiful overtaking is all down to energy, and not daring or skill.

The 24-year-old told media, including RacingNews365: "It's exciting, but when you understand the reason that these overtakes are being made, and it's not really...

"I don't know, not really so much overtakes, but who's got more energy, who's out of energy"

"Somebody uses the energy, and then on the next straight, they have no energy, and they get overtaken again — it's not racing that I'm used to."