Broken steering blamed for Liam Lawson's high-speed Imola crash
A mechanical failure in the closing laps of the Formula 2 weekend at Imola sent Liam Lawson into the wall at high speed.
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Lawson was already on the back foot in the feature race after his gamble to start on the alternate medium tyre failed to pay off.
Whatever chance Lawson had of continuing his podium streak was extinguished when he spun at high speed, spinning into the barriers.
Liam Lawson at Imola. (Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool)
"Something in the steering broke when I was coming up the hill and basically I just went straight, I couldn't turn the car and hit the wall," said Lawson.
"A bit disappointing but the positives are still there, the car is fast and if we get a little bit of luck and put everything together we'll be on it."
Liam Lawson on track during the Emilia Romagna grand prix weekend at Imola. (Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool)
The Red Bull junior entered the weekend second in the championship, but could only qualify as high as fourteenth.
In difficult conditions, Lawson says he was unable to find a gap between traffic and yellow flags.
The Kiwi was able to climb through the field up to eighth in the sprint race before the ensuing misery of the feature race.
The field split strategies, with a group of runners starting on the medium compound in the hopes of a late-race safety car intervention.
After a messy start, the chance of a safety car diminished as the field behaved themselves, and drivers were forced to abandon the alternate strategy, with Lawson falling to sixteenth.
"I had a really good start, went for a bit of a gamble on the strategy, and just basically got really unlucky with the safety car early on in the race when everyone boxed and we couldn't get one in," said Lawson.
The Carlin driver rose to thirteenth before his crash, retiring from the race and leaving Imola with just one championship point from the sprint race.
The Kiwi now drops to fourth in the drivers' standings, with the series due to return 20-22 May at Barcelona.
