After a devastating disqualification from Sprint Race 2 stripped him of his second Formula 2 win, Liam Lawson admitted that he needed a “good few hours to let it all out” before switching back to race mode for the Feature Race.

Recovering from a slow start, Lawson marshalled the wet streets of Monaco brilliantly to win out over Dan Ticktum on Saturday morning, but he was dramatically disqualified afterwards for a technical non-conformity, with Ticktum promoted to P1.

With the Feature Race looming later that afternoon, Lawson had little time to regain his composure, yet still managed to score seventh on track and said he could have been even higher.

“I’d be lying if I said I was over what happened,” Lawson said post-Feature Race. “I think that it will take some time to get over. It’s obviously very tough to swallow, and it was a rare occasion where I had to get back in a car for another race after only a few of hours.

“I basically took a good few hours to let it all out and I guess to take everything in that had happened. Then, I switched to race mode for the Feature race. I wasn’t really thinking about it too much in that time. I was feeling good, and we had strong pace.

Lawson won Sprint Race 2 but was later disqualified for a technical non-conformity with Ticktum promoted to P1
Lawson won Sprint Race 2, but was later disqualified for a technical non-conformity, with Ticktum promoted to P1

“The Feature Race was a lot better. We actually lost so much time in the pitstop, I boxed right before Felipe (Drugovich), so I potentially would have come out fighting for the top five, maybe even a podium. Because we lost so much time in the pitstop, we didn’t get the maximum out of the (Feature) Race, which is a shame.”

The 19-year-old Red Bull junior may not be taking the trophy home from Monaco, but says he’ll savour the moments he spent at the top of the podium regardless.

“I know that we didn’t get the points from the second race, but at least I got to make a statement and show something,” he continued. “That was really, really cool. I got to have the race, I stood up on the podium and had the feeling of winning the race.

“Monaco is a place where I have always wanted to race, and it was really, really cool to race there. We had the potential to have an amazing weekend, but everything bad that could have happened this weekend did happen, unfortunately for us.”

The Kiwi’s disqualification means he’s lost pace in the title fight with early leader Guanyu Zhou, falling from second to fifth, 32 points off the UNI-Virtuosi racer. Despite his frustrations, the Kiwi feels the pace the team demonstrated in Round 2 was a big plus, even if they didn’t get to fully unleash it.

Lawson recovered from the disappointment to finish P7 in the Feature Race
Lawson recovered from the disappointment to finish P7 in the Feature Race

With just two weeks to go until Round 3 in Baku, another street track, Lawson feels the team are in good shape to right a few wrongs.

“I think that the most disappointing part about this weekend was that we were so fast,” he explained. “In every session, we were there. Like in Qualifying, we had the pace to be well up at the front, potentially on the front row, but we never got to show it.

“We had great pace in the wet, and then in the Feature Race as well, we did like 32, 33 laps on the prime tyres because I was the first one to stop. Even at the end of the race, on the same tyres, we were still really fast.

“We’re now going to another street circuit, although it is a very different type of street circuit. Baku is more like a normal track, a lot smoother and a lot more open with longer straights. But it’s still a street circuit and we had good pace on this circuit (Monaco), so I don’t see why we won’t be rapid there as well.“