Racing Bulls boss hails Lawson's 'near-perfect race' in Belgium
'Liam had a near-perfect race,' said Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane.
'He was strong and able to comfortably pull away from [Kick Sauber's] Bortoleto behind and was very happy with the car overall.'
Wet conditions at Spa-Francorchamps saw drivers begin the race behind a safety car, with the 23-year-old starting at ninth on the grid behind teammate Isack Hadjar.
Lawson overtook his fellow Racing Bulls driver on lap 12, allowing him to swap from wet to dry tyres a lap earlier than Hadjar.
ADVERTISEMENT
'It's always tricky when you cross over to a dry tyre when it's damp, but the car was fast and in clean air we had great pace,' said Lawson.
'Often in those conditions you just want to survive, so I'm very happy for the team and how everything came together.'
Lawson successfully pulled off a one-pit stop strategy on his way to securing points.
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including wintry blast on the way, Gloriavale leader in court, and Liam Lawson picks up points. (Source: Breakfast)
His teammate Hadjar dropped to the bottom of the pack after technical issues forced a lack of pace and a second pit stop.
McLaren topped the table with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris taking out first and second respectively.
Lawson achieved his third points finish of the 2025 season and plans to keep his foot on the gas at next week's race in Hungary, ahead of a month-long break.
ADVERTISEMENT
'Now we need to keep the momentum rolling forward and make sure we enter the summer break on a high,' said Lawson.
Permane also expressed optimism about the upcoming race.
'It'll be much hotter, and we've got different tyres, but we expect our car to perform well there,' he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
3 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Formula 1: Liam Lawson qualifies inside top 10 again, to start ninth at Hungarian Grand Prix
Hungary marks just the second time Lawson has bettered Hadjar in qualifying, with the only previous time resulting in his career-best finish of sixth in Austria. And, as was the case with Monaco earlier this year when Lawson finished eighth, Hungary's tight nature and low speed corners makes overtaking increasingly difficult. In the build-up to this weekend's grand prix, Lawson himself highlighted qualifying as the area he needs to improve the most. As the clock began ticking in Q1, none of the 20 drivers immediately left their garage to set an early lap time, even with the threat of rain, as clouds came in to help cool the track down from over 50 degrees. With just over 12 minutes left in the session, Lawson emerged from pit lane, and set a first timed lap of 1m 16.350s, good enough for ninth place at the time, with drivers still yet to cross the finish line on their starting efforts. By the time all 20 drivers had set a timed lap, Lawson was 14th, and 0.225s clear of the drop zone. When he returned for his last laps of Q1, Lawson's gap to elimination had been cut to 0.119s, with the cooling track seeing more and more drivers improve on their times. Williams' Carlos Sainz and Alpine's Pierre Gasly both improved their times, which pushed Lawson down to 17th by the time he started his final lap, as the Kiwi improved his lap time to 1m 15.849s to advance in 14th, at the expense of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, by just 0.50s. Liam Lawson arrives at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Photo / Red Bull Into Q2, and there was no delay in seeing cars immediately leave the pits, as rain started to fall over parts of the track. With that in mind, Lawson's first lap in Q2, 1m 16.156s, was enough for ninth by the time the 15 remaining drivers had set their first lap, 0.045s clear of elimination, ahead of both Ferrari cars. As the session wound down, though, the rain over turn six dissipated, Lawson was one of the first cars to return for his last laps of Q2. That, though, left him vulnerable to the track improving for the drivers who had started later than he had. Those fears didn't eventuate, though, as Lawson's final Q2 time of 1m 15.630s saw him advance to Q3 for the second week in succession, safe by 0.057s, and 0.072s clear of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in 12th. With 12 minutes to push for as high a place on the starting grid as possible, Lawson managed 1m 16.649s on his first timed lap, which while slower than his best effort in Q2, was enough for seventh, before improving for one last time gave him ninth. The Hungarian Grand Prix begins at 1am on Monday (NZ time), as the final race before Formula One's month-long summer break. Hungarian Grand Prix starting grid Charles Leclerc - Ferrari Oscar Piastri - McLaren Lando Norris - McLaren George Russell - Mercedes Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin Lance Stroll - Aston Martin Gabriel Bortoleto - Sauber Max Verstappen - Red Bull Liam Lawson - Racing Bulls Isack Hadjar - Racing Bulls Ollie Bearman - Haas Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari Carlos Sainz - Williams Franco Colapinto - Alpine Kimi Antonelli - Mercedes Yuki Tsunoda - Red Bull Pierre Gasly - Alpine Esteban Ocon - Haas Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber Alex Albon - Williams Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.
1News
17 hours ago
- 1News
Lawson says recent results 'not enough', needs more good races
Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson is hoping to finish with more points when he lines up for this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix. The 23-year-old Racing Bulls put in a great performance at Monday's Belgian Grand Prix, making it into Q3 and crossing the finish line in eighth – bagging four points in a race marred by mixed conditions and delays. Following the race, Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane said Lawson had a 'near-perfect race'. Ahead of Monday's race at the Hungaroring, Lawson said, in the context of the whole season so far, of which he has scored points in three races: "It's not enough. 'We need to be doing it on nearly every weekend if that's the target,' he said. ADVERTISEMENT 'To have two or three of those races over the first half of the season is not enough. So obviously, going forward to the second half of the year, we're trying to replicate this more.' He said the biggest challenge faced by teams and drivers this year was the closeness of the grid. Liam Lawson of New Zealand driving the (30) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 02 on track at Silverstone (Source: Getty) Lawson's best Q3 lap in Belgium was just over 0.1 seconds slower than Williams driver Alex Albon's, which landed him in fifth. The pace of the cars this season wasn't just influencing qualifying, Lawson said, but also race day. 'Even on tracks that are maybe easier to overtake, they're sort of difficult because you don't have a three, four, or five-tenth pace advantage, you have a one or two-tenth pace advantage.' It meant qualifying was now even more critical, which Lawson admitted had been a struggle for him this year. 'I think where our weekends are falling away, at least on my side, has been normally in an average qualifying. ADVERTISEMENT 'The main target is just extracting everything I think through practice on the weekends, making sure we have the car in the best place going into qualifying and then for me as well getting everything out of it and just doing a better job honestly.'' Hungary also marks the final race before the summer break – meaning Lawson would have finished his first half-season as a full-time driver. Reflecting on the season so far, Lawson said he was starting to find some stability after a 'rocky' and 'unexpected' start – adjusting to a new team after being dropped by Red Bull after just two races. 'We're in a better place now. But I think, in general, the speed's been there most of the year and it's nice that we're able to get a couple of good results. 'But as I said, I think as a whole we need to be doing that more. To have two or three of those races over the first half of the season is not enough.' Lawson is back on track at 11.30pm on Friday night (NZ time) for the first practice session of the weekend. Qualifying starts at 2am on Sunday, and it's lights out at 1am on Monday for the race.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
F1: Lando Norris completes free practice double for McLaren at Hungarian Grand Prix
McLaren drivers Lando Norris (L) and Oscar Piastri Photo: photosport Lando Norris completed a Hungarian Grand Prix practice double as runaway leaders McLaren dominated both sessions while leaving something in reserve and almost colliding at the end. Norris was top of the timesheets in both sessions at the Hungaroring outside Budapest, with Formula One leader Oscar Piastri second and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc emerging as McLaren's closest rival. The Briton was 0.019 of a second faster than teammate Piastri, who has a 16 point lead after 13 of 24 races, in first practice and 0.291 quicker in the late afternoon when he set a best lap of one minute 15.624 seconds. New Zealand's Liam Lawson was 14th and 15th quickest in the two sessions for Racing Bulls. Coming off his eighth placing at last week's Belgian Grand Prix, Lawson was slightly off the pace while clocking a total of 58 laps at the Hungaroring circuit. "It's been a little bit tricky for us today, but the track has been really fun to drive," Lawson said. "Traffic management here is quite tough, and with one more session tomorrow morning we have a little bit of work to do. "We're a bit out of position right now and as always, it's very close. If we can find some small things, it will make a big difference to where we are for qualifying." New Zealand driver Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls. Photo: FLORENT GOODEN / PHOTOSPORT Lawson's best time was a lap time of 1 minute 16.812 seconds, in the second session. At the end of the session, with the chequered flag already waved, Norris locked up coming out of the pits for a practice start as Piastri, winner in Belgium last weekend, went around the outside at turn one. Norris was on pole at the circuit last year in a race won by Piastri, his first victory in F1. Leclerc was third fastest in both sessions, with Racing Bulls' French rookie Isack Hadjar fourth in the opening one but Aston Martin coming on strong in the second with Lance Stroll fourth and Fernando Alonso fifth. Double world champion Alonso had missed practice one due to back pain, with Brazilian reserve Felipe Drugovich standing in for him. Lewis Hamilton, winner a record eight times in Hungary with McLaren and Mercedes, was fifth and sixth on his return with Ferrari. Mercedes's form looked more encouraging than at the last race in Belgium, with George Russell ending the day seventh, after earlier complaining about his car's balance, and Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli 10th. Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen was ninth and 14th respectively in the sessions, with Japanese teammate Yuki Tsunoda 17th and ninth. "I don't know what's going on. It's just undriveable, I can't get any balance," said Verstappen over the team radio at one point in the late afternoon. Estonian Paul Aron took Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber for the opening session and was last after having to stop before the midpoint of the session due to a technical problem. Hulkenberg was 12th on his return. Formula One stewards reprimanded Red Bull for a bizarre incident involving Max Verstappen throwing a face towel out of his car and onto the track. The four-times world champion was summoned after the second session as stewards reviewed the video evidence. Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. Photo: photosport "Shortly after Car 1 was released from its garage, the driver of Car 1 (Verstappen) was observed to have thrown a towel out of the cockpit," they said in a statement. "The driver explained that while in the garage, the face towel had slipped from his lap to the side of the seat and the team was unaware that it remained in the cockpit. "When the driver realised it was there, he moved to the far right of the track and attempted to throw it as far away from the car and the track as possible." The towel landed on the asphalt, however, and remained there to the end of the session. The stewards accepted that the towel was more dangerous in than out, with the potential to become lodged in the footwell and interfere with Verstappen's ability to control the car fully. They also ruled that Red Bull had therefore released the car in an unsafe condition, although less serious than leaving a hard object in the cockpit. - Reuters
