For the second time this year, Liam Lawson has achieved a career-best Formula One finish, the Racing Bulls driver claiming sixth place at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Kiwi was the sole shining light for Red Bull in its home race in Spielberg, finishing as the best of the organisation’sfour cars across two teams.
Teammate Isack Hadjar crossed the line 12th, while Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull rounded out the field in 16th, in a race where world champion Max Verstappen was taken out on lap one, and did not finish.
“Unfortunately, in F1, sometimes it doesn’t show. The work behind the scenes, especially from the team, has been incredible.
“To not show it has been really tough. To do it this weekend is a really cool feeling.
“[It’s a relief] especially for the team, for our side of the garage who’ve been pushing very hard and doing a lot of work to make me comfortable in the car.
Liam Lawson drives at the Austrian Grand Prix. Photo / Red Bull
Having qualified sixth, Lawson managed his tyres expertly to make a one-stop strategy work, and completed the final 37 laps without major incident.
Lawson also renewed his rivalry with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, as the pair battled for 66 laps to claim sixth place, as the Kiwi ultimately came up trumps to net eight points, and equal Racing Bulls’ best result of the season.
Lando Norris converted his pole position into third win of 2025, as McLaren claimed a one-two finish by Oscar Piastri finishing second. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third, while Lewis Hamilton settled for fourth.
Norris’ win cuts Piastri’s lead at the top of the drivers championship to 15 points, with Verstappen’s DNF swinging proceedings further into McLaren’s hands.
The eight points earned sees Lawson move up to 15th in the drivers standings, ahead of Tsunoda in 17th.
Meanwhile, Ferrari leapfrog Mercedes into second place in the constructors championship, albeit with a 207-point gap to McLaren.
Lawson’s result, though, sees Racing Bulls leapfrog Haas into sixth in the constructors championship, moving seven points clear of the American outfit.
With the mercury on track touching 50 degrees celsius, drivers were going to be challenged in deciding whether to attack, and risk tyre degradation, or look to manage to hold their position.
Before lights out, Carlos Sainz’s Williams was forced to withdraw after his brakes caught fire on the formation lap, which delayed the start by 10 minutes, and reduced the Grand Prix to 70 laps.
For Lawson, holding sixth place - which he won in Sunday’s qualifying session - off the start line was always going to be an ask, given the pace of cars behind him.
And after an incident that saw both Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli out of the race on the first lap, chaos around him saw Lawson fall to ninth, after he was hit by the Mercedes. Retirement makes Austria the first time in 31 races Verstappen hasn’t scored a point.
As the safety car ended on lap four, Lawson resumed less than a second back from Gabriel Bortoleto’s Sauber, but within striking distance of Alonso behind him.
But the extreme heat began to take its toll on tyres, and as the first drivers started to pit Lawson climbed up to third, with only the two McLarens ahead of him.
Liam Lawson: 'I'm very, very happy.'
Photo / Red Bull
Both Ferraris’ fresher tyres told, as Lawson was overtaken and dropped to fifth, but the Kiwi continued to manage, and set himself up to complete the race on a one-stop strategy.
On lap 33, Lawson finally headed for the pits, and emerged down in 12th. However, while there was still plenty to do, Racing Bulls had given him a very good chance of pushing for points, if they could make the strategy work.
Fresher tyres saw Lawson move back inside the top 10 when cars ahead pitted for the second time, but still had Alonso for company, as both drivers looked to go to the end on the hard tyres.
By lap 51, as Bortoleto and Haas’ Esteban Ocon pitted for the second time, Lawson moved to fifth, and eyed a new career-best result, only to lose a place to fresher tyres of George Russell’s Mercedes five laps later.
With 10 laps to go, Lawson kept Alonso in his mirrors, as the duo set themselves up for a tight finish. Meanwhile, Hadjar fell outside the points, putting all of Racing Bulls’ hopes on Lawson.
In his 21st season in Formula One, Alonso’s experience told, and cut the gap to Lawson to less than half-a-second, even if he was running out of laps to complete an overtake.
There was to be no repeat in Austria, though, as Lawson pushed his lead back to more than a second in the dying laps, as Bortoleto made a nuisance of himself to put paid to Alonso’s hopes of sixth place.
