The Racing Bulls driver finished ninth in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, having been 11th before late retirements for Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc promoted him into the points.
It marked the first time in Lawson’s Formula 1 career that he has scored points in three consecutive races, while teammate Arvid Lindblad’s 10th place secured Racing Bulls’ second consecutive double points finish.
However, Lawson was measured in his assessment after the race, admitting the team had been beaten on pace by the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.
“I mean, it’s great we finished in the points, but if the top guys had finished, we wouldn’t have,” said Lawson.
“So we got knocked out by the Alpines that were quicker than us today.
“So something for us to review. I think we had a good car yesterday and struggled more today.”
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Lawson had been fighting in the lower reaches of the points for much of the race after a slow early pit stop, which included a rear tyre change issue and dropped him down the order.
His race also featured a lengthy battle with Hulkenberg, with the Audi driver unhappy over Lawson’s defending before his afternoon ended in one of the strangest retirements of the season.
After pulling into the pits on Lap 31 to retire from the race, Hulkenberg later revealed his car had been shut down by a stone thrown up by Lawson after the New Zealander ran wide at Turn 12.
The German said Lawson had “put a wheel in the gravel exit of [Turn 12], picked up a lot of gravel” before one of the stones struck the Audi.
“Somehow, one stone pulled the emergency trigger on the left of the roll hoop. And it just killed the car. Just total switch-off, and game over,” added Hulkenberg.
“The car was dead, and then I just coasted into the pit lane. There was nothing left. It was just a complete shutdown.”
Lawson was in disbelief when told after the race that gravel from his car had caused Hulkenberg’s retirement.
“Are you serious? No way,” he said.
“Oh, that’s so unfortunate. Obviously I had no idea. If I could perfectly aim for something like that, it would be quite impressive. But I had no idea, I just knew that he dropped out.”
The retirement was particularly cruel for Hulkenberg, who could have been in position to score his first points of the season and benefit from the late attrition that eventually lifted Lawson and Lindblad into the points.
“I’ve never seen or heard about this [happening], to be honest, in my career,” continued Hulkenberg. “Very unlucky.
“Strange, the timing of that. When you see what happened at the end, two cars dropping out – I don’t know, it’s somehow… The racing world doesn’t want us to score yet.”
For Lawson, the final result still continued a strong recent run, even if he admitted Racing Bulls needed to understand why its race pace had fallen away compared to qualifying.
The 24-year-old said another double points finish was a positive sign heading into the next run of races, but stressed there was still work to do.
“It definitely is. It’s a good sign that we have a quick car here. It means that hopefully we have a quick car at the races coming as well,” he said.
“But yeah, I think definitely something to review in the races. Obviously very high deg today, so probably something we won’t face as high in the future.
‘But let’s see.”
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