Liam Lawson reveals 'confusing' moment ahead of 'hardest' race

Liam Lawson has revealed to being left 'quite confused' ahead of a Japanese Grand Prix he claims was the "hardest" race of the new F1 season so far.

From 13th on the grid at the Suzuka, Lawson was helped by the safety car surrounding Oliver Bearman's 50g crash on lap 22 of the 53-lap race that helped him finish ninth and collect a valuable two points for Racing Bulls.

Whilst Lance Stroll's lap 10 stoppage in the Chinese GP worked against him a fortnight ago, even though he worked his way back to claim seventh, on this occasion, early race struggles were predominantly ended by the five-lap SC intervention.

Lawson's relatively lowly grid slot, though, and initial midfield struggles were due to changes made to the car coming into the race weekend.

"The safety car wasn't ideal in China, and then here [Suzuka], it definitely helped us," said Lawson, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365. "To come away with points is very, very positive.

"But we definitely struggled at the start. We have to look over how we ended qualifying, with the wing we put on the car. It was not where we expected it to be. It was definitely quite confusing there.

"And starting the race as well, it was also quite difficult to drive, so we'll look over everything and learn from it going forward."

[Article continues below]

Racing is more difficult

As for the racing that unfolded after the start, Lawson was predominantly involved in a tussle with Haas driver Esteban Ocon.

Under the new 50-50 power split regulations, electrical energy usage was again high on the agenda for the drivers.

Whilst the 'yo-yo' overtaking has been enjoyed by some, for Lawson, such an effect was not fun 

"If you ask Esteban, who was behind me, he was quite a lot quicker, and he couldn't overtake," said Lawson. "For me, it [overtaking] was very difficult.

"I was in the train at the start, and I had difficulties with the car, even watching Max [Verstappen] and the guys in front. It was very hard to overtake. This race was definitely the hardest. For me, it feels more difficult right now.

"It doesn't really matter what you do. You're forced to use energy to make a pass. And here, at least, there's pretty much a straight afterwards where you get repassed."