Lawson to start from back of the grid in Austin after being hit with engine penalty

Liam Lawson will start the United States Grand Prix from the back of the grid after a number of engine components were changed on his RB, meaning that the New Zealander has been hit with a penalty.

Lawson will make his return this weekend as he replaces Daniel Ricciardo at the squad for the remainder of the season, news that was confirmed in the days following the Singapore Grand Prix.

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While this will be the 22-year-old’s first outing of the campaign, Lawson has inherited the pool of components previously used by Ricciardo, meaning that replacing several of these has taken him over the amount allocated to each car.

A Technical Delegate’s Report released after Free Practice 1 confirmed that the #30 car has been fitted with a new internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger (TC), motor generator unit-heat (MGU-H), motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K), energy store (ES) and control electronics (CE), all of which have exceeded the allocation allowed for the season.

As such, this has resulted in a penalty which will drop Lawson to the back of the field for Sunday’s race at the Circuit of The Americas, the stewards have confirmed.

The report also confirmed that his RB has taken on a new exhaust system (EX) but, with this being his fifth of the eight allocated, this does not require a penalty. Also using a new exhaust system this weekend are Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly, again both within their allocation.

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Lawson ended his debut practice session of 2024 in P13 on the timesheets as the track action got under way in Austin on Friday ahead of Sprint Qualifying later in the day. This will be followed by the Sprint on Saturday before qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix.