In the round-up: Liam Lawson said he skirted disaster on his way to his second ninth-place finish in three grands prix.
In brief
Lawson survived many near-misses
The RB driver said he “nearly crashed probably 10 times” during the rain-hit Brazilian Grand Prix. “It was very sketchy,” he told the official F1 channel.
“Even coming into the pit lane, we made the call to stop and I came into the pit lane and I wasn’t stopping and I was aiming straight for the tyre wall, the barrier at the pit entrance. And it just gripped before then.”
Lawson, who was knocked into a spin by Oscar Piastri at one stage, said he spent much of the race under attack from behind.
“We were strong at the start of the stint, after the red flag, but everyone was in a train and we couldn’t really use it, and then it sort of faded away for us,” he said. “So partly because of the pressure from behind we spent a lot of time defending, but it was a lot of concentration.”
Shwartzman to make IndyCar debut
Robert Shwartzman will move into IndyCar racing next year with new team Prema. He will partner another of the team’s former Formula 2 drivers, Callum Ilott.
Last month Shwartzman made his latest appearance in a Formula 1 car, driving for Sauber in the first practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix. He was given a five-place grid penalty for a yellow flag infringement.
“I’m definitely very, very excited to be back at Prema to start a new adventure in IndyCar,” he said. “Everything will be new to us and there will be many challenges, but it will also be a lot of fun and a lot of work at the same time.
“I think a very successful future lies ahead for us. IndyCar is a very competitive series, with so many strong drivers, and I’m looking forward to the racing, as it looks really cool. I have never driven on ovals and to master them, it will be a completely new challenge.”
Blinkski gets final Rodin seat
Rodin has completed its driver line-up for the 2025 season by naming Roman Bilinski as team mate to Louis Sharp and Callum Voisin. Bilinski won the Formula Regional Oceania championship this year and finished 14th in the European series.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
…There was no Dutch media in the post race press conference either…
By my count there was one French journalist. Four Brazilian journalists, Tom Clarkson (host) , the tv camera operator……..and me 😂 https://t.co/WOUchWb60v
— jameypricephoto (@jameypricephoto) November 5, 2024
Sometimes there’s more to a story than just a sound bite or a chance to attack people for perception of British bias. For my part, as it’s a press conference for written media only, I never attend the post race conference, no matter who’s won. Thursday press conferences are… https://t.co/kgJqL87TEo
— David Croft (@CroftyF1) November 5, 2024
|@lance_stroll should have become Canada’s most experienced #F1 driver in yesterday’s #BrazilianGP.
However he spun off on the formation lap, then drove into a gravel trap and got stuck, and failed to start.
He therefore remains tied on 163 starts with @27villeneuve.#RaceFans pic.twitter.com/lBK3DfhCbO
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) November 4, 2024
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to A.S. Mahesh, Claudio Sampaio, Flowerdew and Hawksfan!
