Liam Lawson converted his strong qualifying result to a P6 finish at the 2025 F1 Austrian Grand Prix.
The result is the Kiwi’s best of the season so far, and comes at a much-needed time after the tough season he has had.
Lawson’s near-flawless Q3 lap put him sixth on the grid in Spielberg, with a bold one-stop strategy from the Racing Bulls paying off. While teammate Isack Hadjar finished P12, Lawson was the final driver to not be lapped after working hard to stay ahead of Fernando Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto.
Speaking to the media, Lawson highlighted his delight at the result, his happiness with the RB team, and looked ahead hopefully to the 2025 F1 British Grand Prix.
On the one-stop strategy working
Lawson was worried about the feasibility of a one-stop strategy, especially with high temperatures proving difficult for the cars to handle. However, he acknowledged that the team made a great call.
“With today’s temperatures I was quite concerned honestly, but the team knew and I’m just very proud of their efforts.”
On the state of the tyres by the end of the race, he added: “Honestly, not too bad. It’s been a weird one this year with tyres, trying to get on top of them on paper. We can here this weekend pretty certain it was going to be a two-stop and I think most people thought that as well.”
Finally getting a big result
Lawson spoke at length about finally getting a strong result, stating that it was “pretty cool” to convert the car’s pace into a P6 finish.
He acknowledged the struggles of the year so far, as well, stating: “It’s been an incredibly tough year. A very tough year with a lot of potential. I came into F1 and even last year had a few races and most of them converted very well.
“Sometimes you can have all the confidence and speed in the world and they don’t [convert] and it felt like that this year. So to finally have a result is amazing, but we need to obviously keep doing this as well.”
Praising his team
Having mentioned his pride at the team’s strategy, Lawson made sure to praise their efforts outside of the garage to improve the car and make him feel more comfortable.
“We’ve been pushing a lot with the car and especially outside of the garage they’ve been doing a lot of work to make me comfortable. We made some changes this weekend and they’ve worked really well.”
Lawson was demoted from Red Bull back to the junior team earlier in the season, and there’s no doubt that a more supportive environment is bringing the best out of the young driver.
The past, present, and future of New Zealanders in F1
While Liam Lawson is only the tenth New Zealander to drive in Formula 1, his P6 result was the best by a Kiwi since Chris Amon’s P5 in the 1976 F1 Spanish Grand Prix.
Reacting to this, Lawson stated: “Is it really? That’s pretty cool. Obviously for New Zealand it’s great as well.”
Lawson also mentioned the promising future of motorsport in New Zealand, “Obviously there’s a few Kiwis coming up as well and hopefully in the future we can have some more of them on the way into Formula 1.”
The threat of cars behind towards the end
While Alonso was chasing Lawson until the end, Lawson was more concerned about Bortoleto’s fresh tyres.
“Gabriel was there with fresh tyres. I could keep Fernando there, just, but with somebody coming on new tyres I was quite concerned. Got a bit lucky that they finished a lap behind and I got a clean final lap to cruise around.”
Looking ahead to Silverstone
Lawson expressed optimism ahead of the British GP, but acknowledged it will be difficult due to tight competition.
“It’s another high speed circuit and it’s felt pretty good this weekend, but it’s just very close at the moment in Formula 1. It’s about pushing every session and trying to improve the car because half a tenth makes such a difference sometimes.”
Lawson has previously finished on the podium at Silverstone in Formula 2 and Formula 3.
