Liam Lawson secured a brilliant P7 in the F1 São Paulo GP as the New Zealander pulled off a remarkable 52-lap stint on mediums.
The race had started well for the Racing Bulls driver. He got past George Russell at the start. Charles Leclerc’s demise saw him run as high as P5 at that stage. However, the Mercedes man got back through quite quickly, before Ollie Bearman also did later in the first stint.
After getting undercut by Pierre Gasly, the 23-year-old saw himself down in a net P10 with Hülkenberg running long. Ultimately, though, the plan changed.
Liam Lawson on change to one-stop in F1 São Paulo GP
As he was close behind Isack Hadjar during the soft stint, and then again on mediums, Lawson was always on the back foot regarding strategy at the F1 São Paulo GP.
The call to switch to a one-stop was made in the end. A whopping 52 laps on mediums meant a lot of tyre saving, as well as hanging on at the end.
“Yeah, very tough, very long stints.
“It wasn’t honestly planned, it’s something that we made the decision in the race. And I think it was very, very tough.
“But I think, especially when you’re the second car, you always lose out with pit stops. We lost a place on the first pit stop and then I think we would have lost more on the second. So it made sense honestly to do it this way around.
“I looked after the tyres quite a lot in that second set at the start as well. So we went through it and fortunately it worked out.”
Racing Bulls had strong pace in F1 São Paulo GP, believes Liam Lawson
Although P7 and P8 was a very fine result for Racing Bulls, they were soundly beaten by the rapid Haas of Ollie Bearman. The young Brit was 23s ahead by the flag.
At one stage the RB pair ran in P4 and P5 before faster cars came through. Lawson is convinced the pace was very strong but was constantly stuck in close packs. That led to the one-stop call.
“I felt like we had the pace today.
“But the problem is, it’s more that for me personally being the second car in queue, I was always going to lose out.
“We were planning on doing a two-stop, that was going to be two stops that I would have honestly lost. Because we were all so close at that point as well.
“The first one I lost a place to Gasly, I think. And then again, they boxed in front of me and I would have lost more positions in the second one.
“So we knew we had the speed, we had to figure out a way to utilise it today.
“I think doing the one-stop, although it was very, very close and definitely wasn’t the fastest race, it gave us a strong position and we had enough speed to stay in front.”
Late defence against Isack Hadjar and Nico Hülkenberg in the F1 São Paulo GP for Liam Lawson
In the final 10 laps, Liam Lawson formed what can only be described as a ‘Trulli train’ as Nico Hülkenberg was first to catch him. Brilliant defensive driving into and out of turn 4 saw the Racing Bulls star fend off the German.
After Isack Hadjar passed the Sauber, he launched a final lap attack into turn 1 on his teammate. However, he came across too early and contact was made, handing the place back to the New Zealander. Eventually they crossed the line in P7 and P8.
Talking about the end of the Grand Prix, Lawson admitted it was very stressful.
“Very stressful, yeah. Very stressful, just trying to keep them behind, trying to manage energy and look after tyres. Just super sensitive here.
“Yeah, it was a battle.”
The six points scored by Liam Lawson in the F1 São Paulo GP moves him up to P14 in the standings on 36. He is only seven away from a top 10 place in the Drivers’ Championship.
