Liam Lawson to 'crunch numbers' to end F1 points drought

Liam Lawson has vowed to "crunch the numbers" as he sets his sights on finally breaking his points duck this F1 season.

Lawson has endured a difficult campaign, starting with his now-infamous two-race cameo with Red Bull before being demoted to Racing Bulls where the stars have failed to align to allow him to finish in the top 10.

For the Monaco Grand Prix, Racing Bulls' strong Friday form was not a false dawn as Lawson and team-mate Isack Hadjar reached Q3, and will start ninth and fifth respectively, the latter after Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton was handed a three-place grid drop. 

Arguably enjoying his best two days of this year, speaking to media, including RacingNews365, Lawson said: "It's definitely been a positive weekend so far. The car has been good. It was good yesterday [in practice], to be honest. I actually think we missed out a little bit on something higher.

"We'd been improving all through the sessions. The start of quali was very positive, but I think towards the end we struggled a little bit with the warm-up, and I got a bit of traffic. Small things make a big difference.

"But it's a positive, obviously, from where it's been recently. It hasn't come together at all through any of the weekends, so it's a good start to the weekend. 

"In Formula 1, you need so many things to work together to have a result. There are a lot of variables in the sport, and I think it's just been unfortunate for us so far.

"The speed has felt good through most of the weekends, I would say, and this weekend, we've managed to show at least some of it in quali. Hopefully, with the new rules, we can try and make something happen tomorrow."

That was regarding the fact that, to try and spice up the show, all drivers are mandated to stop twice. There is the potential for chaos, craziness, and risk-taking throughout the 78 laps.

Assessing how his race could play out, Lawson said: "Truthfully, nobody knows. It's going to be new for all of us. It allows some more opportunities, so we'll be trying to crunch the numbers and come up with something.

"With both cars together in Q3, there is the potential to do something different, maybe, but it's something we'll have to talk about."