Liam Lawson Addresses Shocking Result Over Max Verstappen In Hungarian GP

Newsweek

a day ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson finished ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen for the first time at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lawson has been steadily improving with every race weekend, and the progress culminated in the last race before the summer break.
Verstappen finished in ninth place after starting the race in seventh due to poor tire wear from the Red Bull car.
On the other hand, Lawson finished in P8, wrapping up an impressive four-race stretch for the New Zealander.
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing with Liam Lawson of New Zealand and Visa Cash App Racing Bulls prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e...
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing with Liam Lawson of New Zealand and Visa Cash App Racing Bulls prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on May 18, 2025 in Imola, Italy. More
Photo byHe has scored in three out of the last four races and enters the summer break with massive momentum.
Lawson was ousted from Red Bull after just two races this season, being moved to Racing Bull, the energy drink team's "junior team" for all intents and purposes.
The Kiwi was miles off Verstappen's pace during those two races, making his finishing above the four-time champion all the more notable.
"I also saw [during] the first stint of the race, he was very quick at the start," Lawson told the media.
"He got me on the first lap, and then I think they struggled more on tyres, so I was kind of hoping it would be the same [later on].
"I knew if I kept him there [behind me] for a few laps, maybe he would start to drop, and I think that's more or less what happened.
"It's been a very tough year. I think it's hard to string together a series of good results in F1, and recently it's been good for us but, obviously, we have another whole second half to go, and we need to learn from what's working right now and try and take that forward."
After getting brutally swapped to Racing Bulls, it looked sure that Lawson's future in Formula 1 was in jeopardy.
He appeared on a similar track to Pierre Gasly, who got promoted to Red Bull from the sister team and ended up getting moved down shortly after.
Gasly ended up staying within the Red Bull program with the junior team, but he eventually left for the French squad Alpine.
With Lawson's run of success, he could net an opportunity outside of the Red Bull family like Gasly, or potentially stay and earn another chance now that the sporadic Christian Horner is out of Red Bull.
Lawson needs to continue delivering, and he appears focused on capitalizing on the momentum.
"To be honest, nothing huge has changed other than some small things in the car, and small things to me that have helped get me comfortable in the car," he added.
"I think that's been really since Austria that I've felt that comfortable in the car, but the speed has always been there since the start of the season, since we did the switch.
"We just had a lot of small things through that first part of the year and the consistency wasn't there, and now it is, but also it's very tough to keep that, so we need to try and focus on keeping that."