Red Bull junior Liam Lawson admitted that he “really struggled” with the front tyres on the way to victory on his Euroformula Open debut.
The 17-year-old had one day of testing in Dallara Formula 3 car with Van Amersfoort Racing in 2018 prior to turning up to the EF Open season opener at Paul Ricard, but topped the pre-event test, won the first race and will start the second from pole.
“I’ve been testing a lot in the new FIA F3 car, so took a little bit to get my head around driving a lighter car,” said Lawson to Fornula Scout after his runs in the car.
The Kiwi is also competing in the Formula 1-supporting FIA Formula 3 championship this year with MP Motorsport, and will prioritise racing in that when it clashes with his EF Open programme with Motopark.
“The biggest thing you feel is the lightness, it changes a lot the way you drive the car. But it was a strong day. Every time I get in the car I get more comfortable. Hopefully with more mileage we can continue to make steps.”
“[The Dallara F312] is more downforce-based. It’s really a lot, a lot of aero.
“It’s a different kit from the FIA cars. They’ve got a lot of downforce but it?s a really heavy car. In high-speed corners the speed is quite similar to these cars. These cars arrive slower, they just don?t really slow down. Whereas the FIA cars you arrive a lot faster then have to slow down a bit. They’re a lot different to drive.”
Lawson, like much of the EF Open grid, failed to get the car tuned in correctly for the first qualifying session of the weekend and ended up third, but two strong overtakes meant he beat fellow Red Bull junior Yuki Tsunoda and Lukas Dunner to the first win of the season by just over a second.
“It was was a decent start, I think it was more that Yuki got a bad start [from second],” Lawson said of his race.
“I managed to jump him off the line, then I was following [poleman] Lukas Dunner for a bit. I knew we were quicker. I knew we had good race pace as well. after yesterday?s race run. Then managed to get him on the restart, and the car was just good.
“I didn’t managed the tyres too much, but I lost the fronts a lot. So towards the end, I was really struggling, which is probably why I couldn?t stretch away a bit more.”