‘Maggots, Becketts is a crazy section of corners’ – Lawson on his love for Silverstone as he looks to return to top form

Despite labelling the circuit as the closest thing he’s got to a home race in Formula 2, Liam Lawson says he has no plans to try and be a hero at Silverstone. Instead, the Hitech Grand Prix racer is focused on clawing some points back off the Championship leaders after an indifferent couple of rounds where the speed was there, but the results haven’t quite.

Lawson marked himself out as one of the primary title contenders in the first round of the season, taking two podiums, including a maiden victory in the opener. But the Kiwi arrives at Silverstone in eighth, after two frustrating rounds at street circuits Monte Carlo and Baku, where he scored a highest finish of sixth.

Living just 20 minutes away from the circuit, Lawson won at Silverstone in Formula 3 last season and feels that it’s the ideal place to get his title bid back on track.

“It is not technically a home race, but it’s as close to a home race as I will get in F2, being from New Zealand,” said Lawson. “I love the place, especially in a single-seater. I’m excited to try an F2 car here because every single-seater that I have driven here, the faster the car, the more exciting it is.

“I am super excited to race here this weekend. We have had really good speed in general so far this year, so if we can carry that forward then we can have a good weekend. Other than the street circuits, this would be my favourite track on the calendar. For me, this place comes close to Monaco.

“The high-speed combinations and the way that the track is laid out works really nicely in an aero car. Maggots, Becketts is a crazy section of corners where you pull some serious Gs. It's a track that gives you lots of adrenaline to drive around - when you nail a lap here, it’s a good feeling.”

Lawson has suffered both mistakes and misfortunate so far in 2021, most notably when the Kiwi was stripped of a second win in Sprint Race 2 at Monaco. But there was also a retirement in the first Sprint at Baku, and he lost the lead from pole in the Feature Race, before being handed a 10s time penalty that saw him fall to sixth at the flag.

They’re experiences he’s determined to learn from.

“Overall, we're obviously not where we need to be, but the speed has absolutely been there,” continued Lawson. “You don't want to dwell on things in the past, but we do want to learn from the mistakes.

“We just need to have a clean weekend here. With the way the format is, it is quite difficult to do that, and it is quite easy to be in an unlucky position, so things need to swing our way. The goal is not to be a hero. It is just to have a smooth weekend and start to take some points back out of the leaders.

“But I think in general everything has been gelling really well. The team are working really hard. It is always good when you are working with a team who want to do as well as you do, and that's the case here.”