The result marked a historic achievement for the New Zealander, eclipsing his previous best of sixth in Austria and becoming the highest finish by a Kiwi in F1 since Chris Amon came fifth at the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix.
Despite being unable to challenge the faster cars ahead, Lawson’s strong defensive driving and consistent pace in the closing laps allowed him to hold off the midfield pack, including Yuki Tsunoda, the driver who replaced him at Red Bull earlier this year.
“The race felt rewarding, particularly after the last ten to fifteen laps, which was pretty intense,” Lawson said.
“Obviously it’s a little disappointing from where we were starting, but realistically, we didn’t have the speed to fight with the guys in front today, despite always being hopeful.
The result also moved Lawson up to 13th in the drivers’ championship, just one point behind Carlos Sainz and two behind Lance Stroll.
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“To have a P5 is big for us, especially in the championship right now,” he added.
“We’ve had a good car all weekend thanks to the team, so I’m pleased to be coming home with points.
“We gave it everything!”
With Isack Hadjar taking 10th to secure a double points finish, Racing Bulls overtook Aston Martin into sixth in the constructors’ standings, with all four Red Bull drivers from both teams finishing in the points.
Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane praised the drivers’ performances and the team’s efforts throughout the weekend.
“The race finishes off a great weekend for us here in Baku, which was strong for both our drivers,” he said.
“It was always going to be difficult to keep the quicker cars behind, but we finished with both cars in the points, putting us back to P6 in the Championship.
“I’m really pleased for Liam; a career best for him with 5th place. He put together 20 perfect laps towards the end, keeping those cars behind him.
“For Isack, starting 8th with two Ferraris behind him was always going to be tricky, but he finished very close to them in the end.
“We’re going armed into Singapore with bags of confidence and we can really relish in the last third of the season.”
Hadjar also highlighted the team’s resilience in overcoming technical issues and praised Lawson’s drive.
“We had some hydraulic issues before the race start, but the boys did an amazing job to get everything fixed in time,” the Frenchman said.
“I got off to a really good start, but unfortunately, I made the same costly mistake as yesterday and lost two places.
“We had great pace on the Hard tyre, but not so much on the Medium, so we’ll need to do some research to understand why.
“There are still plenty of positives and learnings to take away from this weekend though; Liam drove a perfect race, and I’m really happy for the team with a double points finish.
“I’m looking forward to Singapore and feel confident that we can do well there.”
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