Lawson: One stop strategy ‘key’ to career-best F1 result

In a race of chaos, retirements, and soaring Styrian temperatures, Liam Lawson emerged at the Red Bull Ring with one of the standout performances of the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Racing Bulls driver secured a career-best sixth-place finish in Spielberg, capitalizing on a daring one-stop strategy and a composed drive that belied the carnage around him.

The 23-year-old New Zealander not only survived – albeit only nearly – a dramatic opening lap but also held off two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in the closing stages, bagging eight vital championship points in the process.

It was only Lawson’s second points finish of the season – and a huge confidence boost for the rookie in his first full Formula 1 campaign.

“It’s been a very, very tough race,” Lawson told Sky Sports F1 post-race. “I don’t even know how I survived it, to be honest.”

Survival was indeed a theme of the afternoon. The chaos began immediately, as Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli misjudged his braking into Turn 3 and rocketed toward Lawson – only to collide with Max Verstappen instead, taking the world champion out of the race. Lawson escaped unscathed, but only just.

“I thought when I saw Kimi coming, I was like okay, this is over, but somehow we got out of it,” Lawson said.

From there, it was all about tyre management and minimizing errors in the sweltering conditions. Lawson was one of just two drivers to successfully execute a medium-to-hard one-stop strategy, and it proved crucial.

“Then the speed was good. We made the one stop work, which was the key today for us with today’s temperatures,” he said. “I wasn’t sure about it, but the team knew so I’m very, very happy.”

Momentum After a Tough Start

Lawson’s impressive drive comes at a pivotal point in his season. After struggling in the early rounds and enduring heavy scrutiny around his future, which resulted in his demotion from Red Bull Racing back to RB, Sunday’s result was a timely reminder of his potential.

“It’s been a very tough year,” he admitted. “It’s been very emotional and very, very tough to just secure a result. So to do that today is really, really cool.

“It’s obviously one good weekend. But I felt the speed’s been really, really good recently, and in practice at the last few races, I felt really good.

“So it was nice to do that yesterday [qualify sixth], but in the back of my mind, I obviously knew that today was the important one, and for us, we now need to just keep this momentum going forward.”

Despite the elation of his career-best result, Lawson remained grounded about the work ahead.

“I’m comfortable in this car right now, and especially this weekend,” he said. “At the moment I’m just very, very focused on converting these weekends, and it’s nice to have this one, but we have a long season ahead.

“It’s a great result, but it’s only the second points finish this season, and that’s not enough. So we need to keep doing this going forward.”

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Lawson’s heroics contrasted with a dismal day for Red Bull’s senior team, as both Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda failed to score, marking the first time since Bahrain 2022 that the senior Red Bull team went pointless in a race.

For Lawson, however, Sunday’s result was a statement of intent, proving he can compete with the best on motorsport’s biggest stage. As the season progresses, the young Kiwi will look to build on this momentum and cement his place in the sport’s fiercely competitive landscape.

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