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Liam Lawson's points-scoring return to Formula 1 after a year on the sidelines was the perfect start to what is effectively an audition to take Sergio Perez's place at Red Bull Racing next year.
But there was more to his weekend than the mere fact he took ninth place after starting on the back row of the grid, as there were also moments where he showed the kind of pace that, if delivered consistently, Red Bull really might find difficult to ignore.
Perez had a tough weekend, partly because he was driving the old-specification Red Bull and therefore didn't benefit from the floor upgrades that helped Max Verstappen.
As team principal Christian Horner said after the race, McLaren's growing advantage in the constructors' championship and Ferrari's upturn in form means "that's where we really need to have Checo come into play", making clear the pressure is still on.
Regardless of how Perez performed, though, or what mitigating circumstances he faced, Lawson has the chance to determine his own future by showing the particular qualities (such as performing under big pressure or against adversity) known to impress Red Bull's decision-makers.
That's why Lawson couldn't afford to see his comeback event as one on which he could play himself in, even with a hefty grid penalty. His determined demeanour made it clear how seriously he took it.
'Right on the pace'
Lawson came into the weekend having driven the Red Bull RB20 in a Mugello tyre test earlier in the month. There, he completed 116 laps and focused on race running, which he described as "the best thing for me". This was his second tyre test outing in the Red Bull, having also run at Monza in early September - where he also drove the VCARB01.
He made the most of the sole free practice session by logging 28 laps, more than anyone else. He ran on the hard and soft tyres and impressed RB team principal Laurent Mekies, who said "he was on the right pace straight away, quite close to" team-mate Yuki Tsunoda despite never having raced at the Circuit of the Americas before.
Sprint qualifying was a new challenge given it was the first time he'd run the mediums, mandatory for SQ1 and SQ2, that weekend. He had two runs in the first segment of qualifying, with his first lap compromised by time lost in the Turn 4-5-6 sweeps early in the lap. His second attempt was slightly quicker despite having to use the same set of mediums and losing time in Turn 10.
SQ2 was less successful as Lawson's sole attempt was deleted thanks to exceeding track limits at Turn 1 as he attacked the corner more than on his previous attempt, even approach a gear up having held it in seventh on the previous lap. He tried to force the rotation, which meant more wheelspin and led to him drifting wide with a lap that would have put him 12th subsequently deleted.
"It was just really scrappy from Turn 1," said Lawson. "I went wide on the kerb and got massive wheelspin. Then from there you're trying to make up time throughout the rest of the lap because you know your delta."
That left him 15th on the grid for the sprint. But the encouraging sign was that he showed hints of having the pace to match or perhaps even beat Tsunoda, even though he struggled to put everything together.
Early aggro
Lawson's sprint race was certainly lively, earning him an enemy in Fernando Alonso.
Their battle started on the first lap with Alonso seemingly settling in ahead through the Esses. But Lawson pulled off an impressive pass on the brakes into the Turn 11 hairpin that appeared to take Alonso by surprise. That was perhaps the start of the aggro that built between them.
Having held 15th in the early stages, Lawson came under increasing pressure from Alonso. The two-time champion was unhappy with Lawson's defending, which was best described as on the line but never over it and therefore legitimate, and Alpine driver Esteban Ocon slipped past the squabbling duo. Alonso was not impressed, with their unexpected row explained here.
As a 'sighter', Lawson's run to 16th place was a useful experience. He felt that his tyres "dropped off a little bit earlier than others" and admitted that he had "lost a spot that I probably shouldn't have with Ocon". His conclusion was "some stuff to figure out" for the race.
Top-three cameo
The highlight of Lawson's weekend was Q1. He knew anything he did in qualifying would count for nothing in terms of grid position, but it was at worst a chance to build experience of running in qualifying trim and potentially an opportunity to show his one-lap pace.
One his second Q1 run, he set the third-fastest time behind only Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
That was an important statement. His lap of 1m33.339s was the fastest set by an RB driver during the weekend.
Had he repeated it in Q2, he could have been in the top 10. Unfortunately, there was no opportunity to do so as he was understandably deployed to provide a tow to help Tsunoda's unsuccessful attempt to reach Q3. But he'd proved that the hints of pace he showed on Friday could coalesce into cold, hard laptime.
"I knew we had performance in the car and I knew we didn't maximise it," said Lawson, referencing sprint qualifying, when asked by The Race about his progress through the weekend. "Obviously, I made a mistake in SQ2 and went wide and had a bit of a slow lap. And I was frustrated, because I knew the performance of the car.
"Then we made a further step with it today. It’s just nice when you put it all together. I completed what I'd set out to do, getting into the car this weekend. Now we need to try and master the race side of it."
A telling stint
Lawson started 19th, bumped up a place by George Russell's pitlane start. Opting for the outside line into Turn 1, he was forced to take to the run-off at the exit as a knock-on effect of Ocon's Alpine spinning after being hit by Alex Albon.
Lawson even had to get out of the throttle as he rejoined to allow Franco Colapinto, who had also had no choice but to go wide, to pull ahead. That left him 15th.
He then took advantage of Colapinto's attempt to pass Lance Stroll at the Turn 11 hairpin, getting a better exit and passing the Williams on the run to Turn 12. That was a significant overtake given both he and Colapinto were on hards and running long, ultimately making the difference between ninth and 10th.
Lawson was gifted two more positions by drivers going off. Lewis Hamilton spinning into the gravel and out of the race at Turn 19 promoted him to 13th, with Lance Stroll's snap and resulting trip through the gravel at Turn 9 when the race restarted after the early, Hamilton-induced safety car moving him up to 12th. That became 11th when Lawson overtook Alonso with DRS assistance into Turn 12 on lap 11.
It then became a question of how his one-stop strategy with a long first stint interacted with those who were running shorter having started on mediums.
This played out quickly, with Lawson using the advantage of his fresh mediums to overtake Pierre Gasly, who had run sixth in the first stint but had pitted 18 laps before the RB driver. Kevin Magnussen then made a sudden second stop, which promoted Lawson to 10th. When Colapinto, who was the last midfielder to stop, pitted on lap 39, Lawson moved up to ninth. And there he stayed.
It was a well-executed race, but perhaps the most telling phase was the second half of his first stint. He was running in clear air, with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda behind him having stopped to take hards early on.
From lap 20-35, Lawson was on average 0.117s quicker than Tsunoda, on the same hard tyre compound but with 18 more laps on them. Even when you factor in the very low level of degradation, that was telling.
It would be unfair to conclude Lawson has proved he's faster than Tsunoda. However, what Lawson has shown is that he certainly isn't slower and that his high points - in Q1 and at times during the race - did suggest there might be an underlying pace advantage.
Tsunoda can rightly point to a strategic error that compromised his race, as well as his own strong performance in the sprint parts of the weekend, in mitigation, but there's no question that Lawson stacked up well compared to his team-mate.
Whether that trend will continue remains to be seen, especially if Tsunoda recaptures the superb form he has produced at times this season. But on his first weekend back, Lawson achieved exactly what he set out to do by being the most impressive of the trio of Red Bull drivers who are effectively on trial.
"It's definitely important," he said when asked about the significance of the result. "It's also what I'm here to do. I've got a goal of staying in Formula 1. These races are very important, so it's doing exactly what I'm here to do. There are five more very important races as well, to focus on."
Both Perez and Tsunoda might say similar things. Heading into his home grand prix, Perez is under enormous pressure and indications at Austin were that he's unlikely to get Red Bull's latest package for this weekend.
"We don't know yet," said Perez, who drew a blank in the sprint and was seventh in the grand prix, when asked whether he would have the upgrade package. "We are learning what the new floor really does. We may wait for a new spec to come up later on, so, we'll see. We’ll know more in the coming days.
"The main differences are in the high-speed corners and in braking. It seems it brings more load than what we initially predicted. That was the biggest thing and something to look forward to."
Tsunoda's position is arguably the most stable of the three. Already confirmed at RB for next year, Red Bull doesn't appear to take him seriously as a candidate for promotion.
His task, as well as helping RB to hit back at Haas after slipping to seventh in the constructors' championship, is to convince his employers he is more than just a yardstick for Lawson.
