F1 Driver Liam Lawson Will Be Hit With A Big Penalty Even Though He Hasn't Been In A Race Yet This Year

There will be a new — albeit familiar — face when Formula 1 heads to Circuit of the Americas next month for the United States Grand Prix, with Liam Lawson stepping in for Daniel Ricciardo at Visa Cash App RB for the rest of the season.

However, he's not getting the greatest welcome with news that before he has even turned one lap in a grand pix this season, he's going to be welcomed back with a 10-place grid penalty.

READ: DANIEL RICCIARDO OFFICIALLY LEAVING VISA CASH APP RB AFTER RIDICULOUS, DRAWN-OUT PROCESS

Red Bull Senior advisor Helmut Marko confirmed plans to take on a new engine and therefore a 10-place drop for Lawson during the weekend's 19-lap Sprint Race in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com.

"The first [race], I think, won't be relevant because he has an engine penalty. Ten places in the sprint race, so that doesn't exactly make life easier in Austin," Marko said, per Autosport.com.

Each season, teams are allowed a specified number of engine components and that number doesn't reset with a new driver for obvious reasons, namely that teams would absolutely exploit it to run fresh engines as much as possible.

Liam Lawson will have some work to do when he makes his season debut with Visa Cash App RB thanks to an impending 10-place grid penalty for a new engine. (Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images)

However, as much as it would stink for Lawson to start the Sprint Race no higher than P11 if he can top the timesheet in the Sprint Shootout (spoiler alert: unless something completely unexpected happens, that won't be the case).

So, Lawson is guaranteed to start outside of the points (which are only given to the top 8 drivers in the Sprint), and while there are some okay overtaking spots at COTA, it'll be hard to crack the Top 8 in just 19 laps.

But that's a better time to take the penalty than on Sunday when VCARB could be in points contention. They'll need anything they can get because, at the moment, they're only 3 points ahead of Haas with 34 points to Haas'31 for P1 in the constructors' standings.

Taking that penalty during the grand prix could prove more costly, but it's still not an ideal "welcome back" gift for Lawson in his return to the grid after driving for VCARB in a few raves last season when they were known as AlphaTauri.