Liam Lawson endured a miserable start to the Formula One season but eighth place at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday meant points for the third time in the last six races for the rejuvenated New Zealander.
Brutally dumped by Red Bull and relegated to the Racing Bulls team after only two races, Lawson failed to register on the drivers’ championship standings for the first seven rounds of the season.
Sunday’s race was delayed by 80 minutes due to wet weather but when it finally got underway, Lawson made the switch to dry tyres at just the right time and eased away from Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto to take another four points.
Lawson, who had qualified ninth, was fully appreciative of the way the team’s strategy worked out and is hungry for more points at Hungaroring next weekend.
“I really enjoyed today. Often in those conditions you just want to survive, so I’m very happy for the team and how everything came together,” the 23-year-old said.
“It’s always tricky when you cross over to a dry tyre when it’s damp, but the car was fast and in clean air we had great pace.
“We need to keep the momentum rolling forward and make sure we enter the summer break on a high.”
In keeping with what has been a chaotic year for the two Red Bull-owned outfits on the grid, Lawson was working under his third team boss of the season at Spa-Francorchamps.
The sacking two weeks ago of Christian Horner, who had handed Lawson the Red Bull seat only to take it away, meant a promotion for Racing Bulls’ team principal Laurent Mekies.
Racing director Alan Permane, who has stepped into the breach as team principal at the junior team, could not have been happier with the way Lawson performed.
“Liam had a near-perfect race, he managed his tyres exceptionally well, both on the intermediates and on the dry tyre,” he said.
“He was strong and able to comfortably pull away from Bortoleto behind and was very happy with the car overall.”
