21-year-old F1 driver admits he seriously needs to work on his starts

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AlphaTauri driver Liam Lawson has admitted he needs to improve on his starts despite having a very strong Singapore Grand Prix.

Lawson was speaking to the Formula 1 official YouTube channel after the conclusion of a thrilling race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Many F1 fans breathed a sigh of relief as Red Bull’s dominance was finally brought to an end.

A poor qualifying session saw Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez start outside the top ten meaning they had to gamble on strategy.

The timing of the safety cars in the race did them no favours either leaving Carlos Sainz free to win his second race as a Ferrari driver.

Further down the grid, there was a fantastic result for New Zealand driver Liam Lawson.

He scored the first points of his short Formula 1 career in Singapore, but Lawson admitted he needed to work on his starts.

Lawson lost a couple of places at the beginning of the race on a track that is very difficult to overtake on.

But in the closing moments, he was clear of Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon after the Thai driver was spun by Perez.

Lawson admits his starts need work after Singapore points

Speaking after the race, Lawson said: “I guess we were trying to chase after the McLarens and I just don’t think we really had the speed to match them this weekend.

“But we kept out of trouble. [The] starts are really not good enough, I need to sort that as that’s two weekends in a row where I’ve lost a couple of spots off the line and it just makes our life more difficult.

“That’s definitely the target for the future if I’m back in the car.”

Lawson may not have another opportunity to work on his starts after his brilliant Singapore GP performance.

Daniel Ricciardo could return from a hand injury in Japan although the race Lawson is driving they might not need to rush the Australian back to action.

Lawson has impressed AlphaTauri chiefs in the past few races but is far from guaranteed a seat in Formula 1 going forward.

Nearly every seat is filled for next season, although neither AlphaTauri driver has been confirmed yet and the team name isn’t even set in stone yet.

After three just races in F1, Lawson will hope he’s done enough to continue his career at the highest level of motor racing.