Lawson finishes career best sixth after excellent one-stop gamble in Austria

30/06/25 Rhonan Colquhoun 23:55pm

Racing Bulls Liam Lawson finished “best of the rest” as the New Zealander pulled off an audacious one-stop strategy to score points and record his best result of his career at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Lawson, who qualified for the Austrian Grand Prix as the highest placed Red Bull-backed driver in sixth, was one of two drivers to try to attempt a one-stop strategy.

The former Red Bull driver, along with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, completed the 70-lap race by only pitting once – on lap 32 – however, Lawson feared his race was over before it started after narrowly avoiding being hit by Kimi Antonelli’s out-of-control Mercedes on the opening lap.

The Italian rookie locked his rear brakes and then lost the rear of his Mercedes which sent him into the path of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. As Lawson started to turn into turn 3, that’s when the contact, on his right, between Antonelli and Verstappen took place.

Lawson admitted that his race was “over” and was unsure at how he managed to not get caught up in the incident. He said: "Especially after Lap 1, I don’t know how I survived it to be honest. I thought – when I saw Kimi coming, I was like, okay, this is over. But somehow, we got out of it.”

Missing the carnage that was taking place right beside him, Lawson’s afternoon consisted of having Alonso lurking in his mirrors for the rest of the race as both worked in tandem to make their strategies a success.

Lawson said: “I’m a bit lost to be honest, it was a very tough race. It is always Fernando who is behind, I think he was within DRS for 70 laps today! I thought he was quicker, but I just spoke to him, and he thought I was quicker, and he was using me to keep DRS!”

As the race leaders came to lap Alonso behind, Lawson was able to pull away in the dying laps to secure sixth as the Aston Martin driver fended off an attack from Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

The 23-year-old’s 2025 campaign has been overshadowed by his early Red Bull demotion after just two races and by the strong performances by his fellow rookie team-mate Isack Hadjar so far this season.

The Kiwi said that his best-ever race result was a reward for “an incredibly tough season” but admitted that the potential has been there for a number of races. He said: “The work behind the scenes, especially from the team, has been incredible and to not have shown anything for it, has been incredibly tough but to do it here is a very cool feeling.”

Lawson moves up into 15th place in the Championship with 12 points – having scored his first points of the season with eighth in Monaco – and now lies nine points behind team-mate Hadjar.