Liam Lawson voices Austin 'lottery' fear as grand prix danger awaits

Liam Lawson has stated the opening corner of the United States Grand Prix is a “lottery” for survival.

The Circuit of the Americas features several iconic corners, one of which is the opening turn, which ascends steeply before a tight apex that sets up a series of high-speed corners.

However, it has been common throughout the event's history for drivers to fall into trouble at the first corner as it pinches the cars close to the inside.

Lawson stated that drivers are often helpless when it comes to the prospect of making it through that stage of the race.

“There's nothing you can do,” Lawson told media including RacingNews365. “Honestly, it's a lottery. 

“When you go to Turn 1 here in the middle of the pack, it's crazy. 

“Last year - I think it was last year - Yuki [Tsunoda] he took out half the field to do it, he went from like P16 to P6 or something like that in Turn 1. 

“Everyone crashed and he just survived and went through. 

“It's a very hard corner. It's also very blind as you go up. You can't see the apex and it's very bumpy as well.”

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Lawson pleased with early COTA performance

Lawson enjoyed a positive run of form on Friday at COTA as Racing Bulls brought more upgrades to the car.

They aided Lawson's run to sixth place at the end of FP2, setting him up for a strong remainder of the weekend as he looks to add more points to his tally.

“It's good, overall the car is in a good place,” Lawson said.

“Obviously we've new stuff on it this weekend, so it's nice to see it working. 

“We're still obviously trying to optimise it, but hopefully we can find some more time for tomorrow.”