Liam Lawson urges major Racing Bulls risk: 'We're not brave enough'

Liam Lawson believes his Racing Bulls team have not "been brave enough" to try and use Pirelli's C5 tyre in qualifying after the mixed roll-out of the C6.

For Imola, Pirelli introduced a sixth dry-weather compound to its line-up, with the new C6 being the softest available, and would normally be used throughout qualifying. 

However, the performance boost from last year's soft - now the C5 medium when the new C6 soft is being used, has not been as expected, with some teams prefering to use the C5 in qualifying.

At Imola, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fifth on the grid, with George Russell taking pole in Canada on the C5, having gone faster in Q3 on the mediums than the C6 soft.

Addressing Racing Bulls' position, Lawson felt that the team had not been "brave" enough to try and replicate some rival teams.

"It's just not that different, honestly, it is not much of a step from the C5," Lawson told media, including RacingNews365. 

"In some ways, you're expecting a compound change, a shift, and it is not that big. 

"We have not been brave enough to do what some teams do and run the C5 in qualifying. It has worked for some teams, but for us, we actually felt pretty comfortable on the C6, especially in Monaco. 

"It is just not that different from the other steps between compounds."