The Kiwi started 12th and moved up a place during the early stages but was unable to crack the top 10, finishing just 3.2 seconds behind Fernando Alonso and 1.5 seconds clear of Lance Stroll after finding himself trapped between the two Aston Martins for much of the race.

“I gave the race everything I could but didn’t have the strongest start as I was boxed at Turn 1,” Lawson said.

“That place probably cost us a point. However, overall, the pace wasn’t strong enough today.

“It’s very hard to overtake here and Aston had control of us throughout the race by being both in front and behind.”

Lawson said he felt the Racing Bulls car had shown promise earlier in the weekend but struggled to convert that into race pace.

“It was tough,” he explained.

“We’ve had a fast car this weekend, but missed out. Our race pace wasn’t amazing, but at the same time, I spent the whole race on Fernando’s gearbox. It’s frustrating to have no points.”

 

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He added that Alonso’s defensive driving played a key role in shaping his race.

“Aston had us in control today, having Fernando in front and Lance behind,” Lawson said.

“He was just pushing me back towards Lance.

“We had speed to fight for points, but we couldn’t hook it up, which is surprising.”

Team principal Alan Permane admitted it was a disappointing end to a challenging weekend for Racing Bulls, with both drivers falling short of the top 10 after Isack Hadjar finished in 16th.

“A tough afternoon to finish off what has been a difficult weekend for us all round; we simply didn’t have the pace we’ve had in recent weeks and the pace we expected to have,” Permane said.

“We will of course spend time analysing where we could have done better and where we went wrong.”

Despite the setback, Permane said the team is eager to bounce back quickly.

“The beauty of F1 is that we’ll be back on track again in five days’ time, so we get a chance to put things right quickly,” he said.

“Mexico is a standard weekend format at a track both drivers know well.

“We will work hard on preparation this week and I’m very sure we will get ourselves back into Q3 and back into the points.”

Lawson remains 14th in the championship on 30 points heading into next weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

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