Liam Lawson said the decision to have a starting start for the Dutch Grand Prix and do a lap behind the safety car made “no sense.”
Changeable conditions had left the final two corners wet and the FIA reacted in an attempt to produce a safe start.
Liam Lawson questions Dutch GP start
Rather than the usual formation lap, the drivers followed the safety car around the track, which restricts the maximum speed they can go at.
Lawson is amongst those who believe it actually made for a more dangerous start given the drivers were on colder tyres than usual.
In the end, it was Max Verstappen who had the predictable crash as he lost control coming out of the final corner and collided with the wall.
Lawson said the decision to involve the safety car made “no sense.”
“To do a standing start and also do a lap behind the safety car makes no sense,” he said.
“So I’m not sure what the reasoning of that was, but I feel like we could all see that coming.
“We were all probably saying the same thing before when we got the news, but we didn’t have control over that.”
Lawson described the early conditions as “impossible” and noted how the first half of the track was dry and the final two corners were “completely soaked.”
“Just impossible,” he said. “I mean, the whole first half of the track was dry, and then the last two corners were completely soaked.
“So really easy to do that when you have this much power and on a slick tyre. I really lifted out of it because I honestly no confidence to know how much grip I was going to have there, and I think Max was probably trying to get close and make an overtake, but just lost it.”
As for his temporary return to Red Bull, Lawson felt he extracted as much as he could from the weekend with his P7 finish, the first points he has scored for the team.
“I’m sure there’s things that I can do better in the race, and I’ll try and reflect on it,” Lawson, who is now ninth in the standings, said. “But in terms of positions, I don’t think we had the speed to match the guys in front.
“But it’s been a good weekend. It was good to extract everything out of quali yesterday. It’s been tough to try and get my head around this car in a short space of time, but I’ve enjoyed it.
“The car is completely different [to the Racing Bulls], obviously aerodynamically, and as well, there are always things that you know.
“Personally, as drivers, we try and make our cars comfortable for us and there’s some things that when you switch a car for a weekend, you can’t just automatically change those things.
“So there’s stuff in this car that aren’t the same as mine in terms of just driver comfort that I’ve had to get my head around without being too specific, but that stuff that has probably been the most challenging.”
