Formula One journalist Chris Medland speaks to Mike Hosking about Red Bull’s handling of Liam Lawson. Video / Newstalk ZB
Liam Lawson played the ultimate team game and claimed his best result in Formula One as his Racing Bulls team masterminded the perfect strategy in the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Kiwi crossed the line eighth, having deliberately driven slow to create a gap for teammate Isack Hadjar - who finished sixth - to safely pit in without emerging in traffic, as two mandatory pit stops dramatically affected the running of the race.
That rule change came as an attempt to add more jeopardy to what is usually the most predictable Grand Prix on the Formula One calendar. However, whether or not the FIA - motorsport’s governing body - got what it wanted out of it remains to be seen, given the ease at which Racing Bulls were able to manipulate how the race was run.
Lawson’s strategy allowed Hadjar to get through his two stops after 28 laps, and secure vital track position, given the Circuit de Monaco is the most difficult to overtake of every race on the Formula One calendar.
In turn, Lawson was able to get his stops out of the way by lap 43, and while he wasn’t able to overtake any drivers on track, Fernando Alonso’s mid-race retirement opened the door for him to claim four championship points, and better the ninth placings from Singapore 2023, and Austin and Brazil last year.
“For our fight in the midfield, it’s very important.
“From my side, it’s great to get some points. We should have started higher from yesterday, but that’s on me.”
At the front of the grid, McLaren’s Lando Norris converted his pole position into his second win of the season, ahead of hometown hero Charles Leclerc of Ferrari in second.
Norris had won the season-opening race in Australia, but has largely taken a back seat to his teammate ever since, with McLaren in complete control of the constructors championship.
World championship leader Oscar Piastri finished where he started in third, as Max Verstappen settled for fourth after leading for most of the latter half of the race, before having to undertake his second and final pit stop.
Despite Norris’ win, Piastri still leads the drivers championship with 161 points from the first eight races of the year. However, that lead is now just three points from Norris’ 158.
Racing Bulls’ 12 points gained, meanwhile, moves the team up to seventh on the constructors standings.
With only 159m from the start line to turn one, Lawson held his starting place of ninth as the lights went out, as teams contemplated when they would take their first stop over the course of the 78-lap race.
But when Gabriel Bortoleto hit the wall at turn eight on the first lap to trigger a virtual safety car, the first cars headed for the pits.
Lawson, though, stayed out on a set of medium tyres, and held his place behind Haas’ Esteban Ocon as the virtual safety car ended on lap four.
Liam Lawson at the Monaco Grand Prix. Photo / Red Bull
However, despite the racing on track, all eyes remained fixed on the pits, as the 10 teams began a game of cat and mouse to see which of the leaders would stop first.
On lap nine, Pierre Gasly lost his front left wheel when he went into the back of Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda coming out of the tunnel at turn 10, leaving debris on the track to trigger a yellow flag. The damage to Gasly’s car forced him to limp back to the Alpine garage, and closed pit lane for two laps.
Once racing resumed on lap 11, Lawson was nine seconds back from Ocon, with Williams’ Alex Albon hot on his heels in 10th, less than one second back.
From there, Lawson dropped his pace as a means of holding the rest of the field behind him at bay, and create room for Hadjar to pit without re-entering the race stuck behind slower cars, with no opportunity to pass.
With the gap to Ocon, Hadjar pitted on lap 15, and emerged in eighth place on soft tyres. Pit strategy lost Hadjar a place to Lewis Hamilton, only for the Racing Bulls driver to take his second stop four laps later, and give himself 58 laps to complete on his third set of tyres.
Once Hadjar’s strategy was complete, Lawson was able to put his foot down and close the gap to his teammate to less than two seconds, albeit without having pitted yet along with the respective Mercedes and Williams cars.
Lawson climbed a place when Ocon pitted on lap 29, before he took his first stop on lap 32, and emerged in 10th on a set of soft tyres, which became ninth when Albon pitted one lap later, and then another on lap 38 when Alonso retired with a power unit failure.
Running eighth, but lapped by Norris, Lawson pitted again on lap 42 to get his final stop out of the way, and emerged where he entered to put himself on course for his best finish in Formula One.
With 35 laps left to run, all that was needed was for Lawson to get to the end of the race without incident. Lawson ate into Ocon’s lead in front of him, reducing it from more than 16 seconds to less than one, and gave himself a chance at using his Drag Reduction System (DRS) on the main straight.
But even given his tyres were 11 laps fresher than Ocon’s, the narrow streets of Monte Carlo ultimately told, even as Racing Bulls claimed a first double points finish since Austin 2023.
Formula One now heads to Barcelona for the last race of this block of three in three weeks, for next weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Monaco Grand Prix finishing order
Lando Norris - McLaren
Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
Oscar Piastri - McLaren
Max Verstappen - Red Bull
Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari
Isack Hadjar - Racing Bulls
Esteban Ocon - Haas
Liam Lawson - Racing Bulls
Alex Albon - Williams
Carlos Sainz - Williams
George Russell - Mercedes
Ollie Bearman - Haas
Franco Colapinto - Alpine
Gabriel Bortoleto - Sauber
Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber
Lance Stroll - Aston Martin
Yuki Tsunoda - Red Bull
Kimi Antonelli - Mercedes
DID NOT FINISH: Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin, Pierre Gasly - Alpine
