Kiwi rookie Liam Lawson has continued his improvement under the Formula One spotlight, finishing just outside the points at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
In his second drive in motorsport's elite competition, Lawson, 20, has finished 11th, after qualifying 12th and finishing 13th in his debut at the Dutch Grand Prix seven days earlier.
"A couple of things went wrong today," he reflected. "We need to look into the start, as I could have done a better job and that's where we lost the chance.
"The pace wasn't too bad then, but the race slightly got away from us. I'm still learning the procedures and definitely starting to feel more comfortable in the car, but I'm just a little bit disappointed with my race, as I think we may have had the pace for points today.
"I’m not sure though, so we need to look into it. These races are longer than I'm used to, so definitely adjusting, but I felt much more prepared than I did last weekend, so I'm happy about that."
Lawson was hastily promoted into the AlphaTauri drive at Zandvoort, after Aussie Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand during practice, leaving his young Kiwi replacement very limited opportunity to come to grips with the car.
With a week to prepare, Lawson was better in qualifying, but obviously expected more. Teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who started alongside him on the grid, failed to finish.
Meanwhile, Dutchman Max Verstappen took his 10th consecutive Formula One victory to break the record set by Sebastian Vettel in 2013.
Verstappen, 25, tied the record for consecutive wins last week at the Dutch Grand Prix in his home race.
This week, he took advantage of a slight mistake by Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz on the 15th lap to overtake the Spaniard. Verstappen went on to win in 1h 13m 41.143s, with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez finishing second.
Sainz finished third, with fellow Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc fourth.
Verstappen began his streak May 7 at the Miami Grand Prix and he's won 12 of 14 races this season. He is well on the way to his third straight championship and to breaking the single-season wins record of 15, which he set last year.
Red Bull is unbeaten on the season, with Perez victorious in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan earlier this year.
F1 racing continues September 17 at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Newshub/Reuters
