Lawson insists Abu Dhabi ‘one of my better races’

Liam Lawson was left lamenting a difficult final race of 2024 in Abu Dhabi, with the New Zealander failing to see the chequered flag, while his RB team mate Yuki Tsunoda trailed home a lap down in 12th place after suffering with a clutch issue.

With Tsunoda’s race off to the worst possible start – a stuck clutch leading to anti-stall kicking in and dropping the Japanese racer from 11th to 17th – Lawson’s race was going okay until the team finally called him in for a pit stop.

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The front left wheel wasn’t fitted currently, leaving Lawson crawling round for an entire lap, before he was then forced into a second stop to correct the issue. That incident also led to the Kiwi racer being slapped with a hefty penalty for an unsafe release.

That dropped him to last, but worse was to come when he had to park up on the penultimate lap with a mechanical issue – jumping out of the car only for it to start rolling away.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 08: Liam Lawson of New Zealand and Visa Cash App RB — Lawson contested six races in 2024, to go with five from last year

“It sucks,” Lawson said afterwards. “We actually had really, really good pace throughout the race. Obviously for me, even if I’m running out of the race or a lap down, I’m going to push anyway because I’m trying to show something while I’m in the car. So actually, to be honest, it’s one of the better races I’ve done in my career.

“I gave it everything and we had good pace but just unfortunately, with the issue in the pits, that put us out of the race.”

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Lawson isn’t guaranteed a seat on the grid for next year with RB confirming Tsunoda earlier in the season but yet to announce their full driver line-up. Having replaced Daniel Ricciardo for the last six races of the year, Lawson earned RB points in Austin and Brazil and will hope his efforts have done enough to prove to his bosses that he can have another shot in the team – or even at the senior Red Bull squad.

“I’ve given it everything honestly, in every single session I’ve driven the car,” he concluded. “The decision is up to them so we’ll see.”

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 08: Yuki Tsunoda of Japan driving the (22) Visa Cash App — A clutch issue limited Tsunoda's chances of scoring points in the final race

Tsunoda’s final 2024 outing didn’t go much better after that anti-stall issue on the grid. He fought back with a long opening stint on the medium tyre, but was unable to keep some faster cars behind in the closing stages, losing out to Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri as he came home 12th.

“To be honest, my race was almost gone in the first start – I don’t know exactly what happened there, I need to hear the feedback from the team,” Tsunoda said.

“I’m 99% sure the clutch was stuck, never in my life have I had anti-stall at the start and just can’t move at all. I don’t think I did anything wrong with the procedure and actually I felt it clearly when I came into the pit lane to do a pit stop. The clutch was stuck and I couldn’t stop properly.

“It was a great shame in the last race especially, you want to at least have a nice race. I tried my best afterwards, but it didn’t work out, so pretty tough.”

RB finished the season in eighth place, 12 points behind Haas.