F1 esports debut
8th in Shanghai
Liam made his F1 esports debut on Monday morning (NZ time), entered by Scuderia AlphaTauri and the Red Bull Junior Team to take part in the on-line F1 racing series, the first F3 driver - I believe - invited to take part. Until now, the drivers have all been F1 or F2, WEC and invited personalities. Red Bull entered regular Alex Albon with football star Thibaut Courtois, while Liam’s teammate was fellow footballer Ciro Immobile. Liam and Ciro drove in Toro Rosso cars because the Playstation game being used (F1 2019) doesn’t have the new for 2020 AlphaTauri livery.
Liam’s F1 esports Q&A
1. The commentators ‘voted’ you along with Carlos Sainz Jnr with the ‘drives of the race’. Tell us about your Qualifying, the late dash to improve and a summary of your race? “Our quali definitely didn’t go as planned. I had done a lot of practice on the Soft tyre and was preparing to drive on that but when I got in the session the plan had changed and I was planning to qualify on the Medium to make the first stint of the race better. This meant I couldn’t set a time on the soft so I had to wait until the end of the session to put in a time. Then right at the end we decided it was risky and I ended up putting in one lap that wasn’t very good to put us p11. However because I qualified outside the top 10 I could choose the tyre I started on and I put on the Medium. Then because of penalty’s [to other drivers] I started P9. “Then, everyone was very aggressive going into the first corner, so I got smashed off and then the same happened again one lap later. Once everything settled down, I started to make my way back up again. I had started on the Medium tyre so we could go a lot longer and as the others pitted I managed to be the lead car on the Mediums and had quite a nice stint. Then I pitted taking on the Hard tyre and again had a really strong pace, which was positive. “I had a close battle with Giovinazzi, who was very aggressive, so it took me a while to get past. In the end, I finished P8.
2. Not having the ‘full’ sim set-up, were you disadvantaged in race? “My setup is very basic and driving against these guys who mostly use Direct Drive wheels makes it difficult, but you get used to what you have and learn how to make it work.”
3. Can you briefly describe the difference between esports Game racing and Sim racing? “The F1 games are definitely more of a “game” than a simulator although every year they get better and better. The main differences are the physics of the game. Sim racing games are purely designed around making the cars as realistic to drive, where as an F1 game for example the focus is on a lot more things, like making the graphics look really good and the story of the game being fun and realistic to play. The focus on the car performance isn’t so much.”
4. How did you enjoy the experience and do you think you’ll get to have another go? “I absolutely loved having the opportunity to race against Formula one drivers and I’d would love to have another go. I was definitely left disappointed after the result knowing the speed we had. I’d love to have another go at a top 5.”
5. If you could choose a track to race the stars on, where would it be? “I think it would be hard to pick a track to race everyone on. There are so many tracks I love on the F1 calendar but if I had to pick I would say probably top 3 would be, Silverstone, Singapore and maybe Monaco.”
Lockdown sim set-up
Many of you may have seen the sim set-up... we jokingly call it the ‘ironing board special’. Good news, the various parts of a new sim are on the way, so within a week or so Liam should be competing on a more comparable sim, like the others drivers. However, his basic set-up has been a popular hit on social media and led to a story by Colin Smith on the national Driven website, part of the NZ Herald/NZME empire. A link to the story. nd, Liam’s exploits with the ironing board even made TV One News last night during the Sports segment. Classic! Check it out, On Demand (TV One Sports News 20 April).
Plenty of sim racing
Apart from the F1 esports experience, Liam has been actively racing in the 2K Cup series, all drivers in MX5 cars. Over 100 drivers enter and Liam is part of the ‘Pro’ group and has completed against the likes of Shane van Gisbergen and Brendon Hartley. There is a great little highlights package on Liam’s Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/LiamLawson30/videos/274269213586291
