Another week, another points finish for Liam Lawson, as the Kiwi crossed the finish line eighth at Formula One’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Following his eighth place in Belgium last week, the Racing Bulls driver claimed successive top 10 finishes for the first time in his career, and bagged another four competition points.
Hungary marks the second time Lawson has finished as Red Bull’s best car, after doing the same for a career-best sixth place in Austria.
However, that result came after Verstappen crashed out on the opening lap, rather than Lawson beating him on track.
Having qualified ninth, Lawson made up one place - that of reigning world champion Max Verstappen - and drove home as the best of the four Red Bull-backed cars.
Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar could only manage 11th, and extended his pointless run in grands prix to five races, after being outqualified by the Kiwi on Sunday.
At the front of the grid, McLaren claimed not only their seventh one-two finish of the year, but their 200th grand prix win, as Lando Norris landed a championship blow to teammate Oscar Piastri after a late battle.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who claimed pole position on Sunday, crossed the line fourth, after a strategy mix-up opened the door for McLaren, while Mercedes’ George Russell completed the podium.
So dominant were the McLaren’s, Russell finished more than 20 seconds behind Norris and Piastri.
Norris’ victory cuts Piastri’s advantage at the top of the drivers championship to just nine points, while McLaren’s advantage at the top of the constructors standings is 299 points.
Despite his four points, Lawson drops a place in the drivers standings - due to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso taking fifth.
Lawson, though, has cut the gap to Hadjar to just two points, with the Kiwi trailing 20 to 22.
Starting one place ahead of his teammate after Sunday’s (NZ time) qualifying session, Hungary’s tight nature made the opening lap vital for Lawson’s chances of back-to-back points finishes.
But despite the challenge of one Red Bull stablemate behind him, Lawson instead got the better of the one in front, and swept past Verstappen into turn one, and moved up to eighth.
However, with the quality of a four-time world champion, Verstappen got his own back on lap two, as Hadjar lost a place of his own to Haas’ Ollie Bearman.
As Verstappen continued to climb, Lawson had Lance Stroll in his sights, and stayed within a second of the Aston Martin, and gave himself an opportunity to use his Drag Reduction System (DRS). Hadjar, meanwhile, complained of pain in his hands, as Bearman ran wide at turn 12, to send gravel into the Racing Bulls driver’s cockpit.
Even as he struggled for an opportunity to pass Stroll, Lawson opened up a gap of more than a second over Bearman, and kept himself out of range of a DRS overtake from behind.
As drivers headed for their first pit stops, undercutting became the main option for teams to pull off overtakes, given the limited opportunities on track. The risk, though, was pitting and being stuck in a train of cars, unable to overtake on the narrow circuit.
Needing to make a one-stop strategy work, Lawson fell out of range of Stroll, but extended his lead over Bearman to more than five seconds, as all eyes became fixed on Racing Bulls’ garage.
At the halfway stage, Lawson was still yet to pit, but had re-opened his DRS window to Stroll, but had Verstappen breathing down his neck, having made his first stop earlier in the race.
Stroll blinked first, and pitted on lap 37 to put Lawson into seventh, which became sixth when Alonso stopped on lap 40.
On lap 41, Lawson finally stopped, and emerged down in 12th, two seconds back from Williams’ Carlos Sainz, and more than a second ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg pitted again one lap later, and saw Lawson climb to 11th, before Lewis Hamilton was pitted by Ferrari to put the Kiwi back into the points.
Lawson’s fresher tyres saw him pick off Sainz on lap 43, and left him just under five seconds back from Stroll, as Verstappen’s second stop moved him back into eighth, and gave the Kiwi 20 laps to defend his former teammate.
But as both drivers’ tyres aged, Verstappen couldn’t get close enough, as Lawson drove home for a second eighth-place finish in as many weeks.
Formula One will now take a month-long break over the European summer, before returning at the start of September for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
Did not finish: Ollie Bearman - Haas
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.