Formula 1: Liam Lawson lands vital punch in Red Bull battle with Isack Hadjar
Here's what we learned at Spa-Francorchamps.
The fightback begins
While the narrative of Lawson v Hadjar plays out each week, we hadn't actually seen it on track until Belgium. Now that we have, though, you'd have to award it to the Kiwi in straight sets.
You cannot argue that Hadjar has, without question, outperformed Lawson over the course of their time together in 2025.
He has five points finishes to Lawson's three, and is still six clear in the drivers' championship.
Recency bias, though, sides with the Kiwi. Since Monaco, Lawson has scored all 16 of his points, while Hadjar has managed 15. In fact, Hadjar hasn't scored a point since Spain, before Lawson outperformed him in Austria, before Belgium.
Make no mistake, this is not the end of the battle between Lawson and Hadjar by any means.
The 20-year-old has been a revelation at Racing Bulls, and has done all the right things to take his career to another level next year.
The pair share a very close relationship, with Lawson widely understood to have taken on a mentoring role for his younger teammate.
But in a sport where results speak louder than anything else, Lawson's recent results over Hadjar make for very good reading in the race to possibly step into Red Bull next year.
Bragging rights
Lawson's overtake on his teammate came at the same time as the crossover from wet to slick tyres.
Getting ahead when he did set Lawson up as Racing Bulls' lead car, and gave him the first pit stop as a result.
Had he not pulled that off, Lawson would have been forced to stay out for one lap longer, and lose any chance of a points finish.
In Melbourne, the first of Lawson's two races with Red Bull, the opposite occurred, and the Kiwi was left out on slick tyres when he needed to pit for intermediates, only to spin out as Max Verstappen was preferred.
In football, the adage is that these things tend to even out over the course of a season.
And while not necessarily 100% the same, it's good to see a bit of fortune finally fall Lawson's way for once.
Hope for Yuki?
A 12th-place finish in the grand prix might not stand out as a season-saving result, but there were very good signs for Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda over the course of the weekend.
Like Lawson before him, Tsunoda has struggled to come to grips with Red Bull's RB21, a car that only Verstappen seems to be able to get the best out of.
But having seen Red Bull team principal Christian Horner sacked in the two-week break between Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, Tsunoda could stand to benefit more than anyone else.
Horner's replacement, Laurent Mekies, is Tsunoda's former boss with Racing Bulls and AlphaTauri. And with that familiar figure, the Japanese driver managed his best qualifying position of seventh.
Tsunoda's future is by no means secure. His links to Honda will almost certainly mean his exit at the end of the year, when the Japanese engine supplier leaves Red Bull for Aston Martin.
However, if Mekies' presence at Red Bull gives him any kind of lift, Lawson and Hadjar could have company in their fight for that second seat.
Lawson silences Saubers
Since Spain, Sauber have quietly become Formula One's dark horse. Under the guidance of former Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, the soon-to-be Audi team are on course for their biggest points haul in years.
Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto have together scored 43 points to climb to sixth in the constructors' championship, two clear of Racing Bulls in seventh.
That total could arguably have been more, were it not for running into Lawson at Spa. After his first and only pitstop, Lawson emerged ahead of Hulkenberg, fresh from his first podium at Silverstone.
The German veteran had plenty of opportunity to get around the Kiwi, but couldn't manage, and even saw his teammate demand to let him by to have his own crack at Lawson. It made no difference, as Lawson held off Bortoleto for the rest of the race.
Lawson's junior categories were highlighted by his aggressive nature. This season, though, we've seen his defence come to the fore.
Given more time, Lawson should begin to cash in on the promise that Red Bull saw, and give their second seat to, after just 11 grands prix.
One to go
Even though we've just had a two-week break between Britain and Belgium, Formula One is readying up for the final race of the first block of the season.
Next week's race in Hungary is the last before the month-long summer break, giving teams the chance to reset.
However, there is still a race to get through. The Hungaroring is a tough circuit, with plenty of low speed corners for drivers to navigate, while Hungary's high temperatures make it a challenge for drivers to navigate wear on their tyres.
For Lawson, there's no shortage of past experience. Through Formula Three and Formula Two, he's raced there six times all up. His best result, though, is a sixth-place, achieved in 2022.
Three years on, though, Lawson is a much better driver than he was in his F2 days, and will hopefully be able to continue on the trajectory he's heading into the summer with.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.
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