The 23-year-old came home an impressive sixth in a chaotic Austrian Grand Prix after a determined and measured drive at the Red Bull Ring, in a race that saw only 16 finishers and a number of frontrunners — including Max Verstappen — retire early.
Most impressively, Lawson was one of just two drivers to make a one-stop strategy work in the scorching Styrian heat, holding off the experienced Fernando Alonso in the closing laps to secure eight valuable championship points and the best result of his F1 career.
“It’s been a very, very tough race,” Lawson told Sky Sports F1 after the race. “I don’t even know how I survived it, to be honest.”
The New Zealander was nearly taken out on the opening lap at Turn 3 after Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli misjudged his braking and came flying into the corner. He ended up missing Lawson and taking out Verstappen instead, with both retiring from the race.
“I thought when I saw Kimi coming, I was like okay, this is over, but somehow we got out of it,” Lawson added.
“Then the speed was good. We made the one stop work, which was the key today for us with today’s temperatures.
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“I wasn’t sure about it, but the team knew so I’m very, very happy.”
The result is a major boost for Lawson after a difficult start to his first full Formula 1 season. It marked just his second points finish of the year and lifts him to 15th in the Drivers’ Championship.
He said that despite the tough year so far, he was encouraged by what the team could achieve for the remainder of the season.
“It’s been a very tough year,” Lawson admitted. “It’s been very emotional and very, very tough to just secure a result. So to do that today is really, really cool.
“It’s obviously one good weekend. But I felt the speeds been really, really good recently, and practice at the last few races, I felt really good.
“So it was nice to do that yesterday [qualify sixth], but in the back of my mind, I obviously knew that today was the important one, and for us, we now need to just keep this momentum going forward.”
Lawson’s performance also came on a day when Red Bull’s senior team endured a nightmare, with both Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda failing to score — the first time since Bahrain 2022 that Red Bull went a race without a point.
And while he didn’t directly address speculation around his future, Lawson acknowledged that results like Sunday’s help ease the pressure.
“I had two races [at Red Bull] and I honestly didn’t get to grips with it at all in that time,” he said. “I worked my whole career to get to Red Bull Racing. And so obviously it was a tough start of the season.
“I’m comfortable in this car right now, and especially this weekend.
“At the moment I’m just very, very focused on converting these weekends, and it’s nice to have this one, but we have a long season ahead.
“It’s a great result, but it’s only the second points finish this season, and that’s not enough. So we need to keep doing this going forward.”
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