Liam Lawson faces grid penalty on F1 return - here's why

Liam Lawson is set for a 10-place grid penalty when he returns to F1 at next month’s United States Grand Prix.

The 22-year-old New Zealander has been drafted in at RB - Red Bull’s sister team - to contest the final six races of the season as a replacement for the underperforming Daniel Ricciardo.

Lawson’s first race back in a year will come at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, where he will face a grid penalty due to an engine swap, it has emerged.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko confirmed in an interview with Motorsport-Total that Lawson will be hit with a grid drop in the United States.

"The first [race], I think, won't be relevant because he has an engine penalty,” Marko revealed. “Ten places in the sprint race, so that doesn't exactly make life easier in Austin.”

Speaking to New Zealand’s Newstalk ZB radio station after the driver swap was confirmed, Lawson acknowledged the challenge he faces.

“Obviously I’m very happy, but it’s six rounds left in the season, so I’m coming in at a difficult time,” he said.

“It’s going to be a very challenging point. All these [drivers] have done three quarters of a season now, so I have to try and compete with that – at tracks that I haven’t done [driven at] as well.

“It’s going to be challenging. I’ve spoken to my parents, obviously, and spoken to everybody that’s been behind me on this journey. It’s very, very special, but we don’t have much time to really let it sink in – we’ve got to get straight to work.”

Lawson added: “It’s funny, because when I found out and I got to call everybody, the first sort of words or the first things they said, all of them including my dad, my mum and everybody, all the sponsors behind me from day one, I could hear the relief in their voice before anything.

“It wasn’t excitement, it was just pure relief, which is also how I felt to be honest, because it’s been obviously a huge journey and a lot of people have put a lot into this, so it was very exciting.”