03/08/2025 21:15
Liam Lawson has expressed surprise at being able to keep Max
Verstappen behind him in the Hungarian Grand Prix on his way to a
career-first. Having qualified in ninth, one place behind
Verstappen, Lawson initially found himself in front of the Red
Bull, but was quickly passed in the opening laps. Red Bull then
opted to pit Verstappen early, with the world champion dropping to
P16 before mounting a recovery drive as Lawson ran long to secure
an eighth-place finish after his stop, with Verstappen 3.2s
behind. It is the first time in a race where both have finished
this season that Lawson has finished ahead of Verstappen, with it
also marking the first time the New Zealander has scored points in
back-to-back races in his F1 career. Lawson finished sixth in
Belgium and has actually scored points in three of the last four
races since Austria, when a front suspension upgrade aided his
confidence. Reflecting on his first F1 visit to Hungary, the Racing
Bulls driver was satisfied. "Yeah, a little bit," Lawson confirmed
when asked by media, including RacingNews365 , if he was surprised
at beating Verstappen. "At the start, he was very fast and he got
me on the first lap, but then they struggled with tyres, so I was
kind of hoping it would be the same [towards the end of the race].
"So I knew if I kept him there for a few laps, maybe he would start
to drop - and that's more or less what happened. "The car has been
very good recently, especially in races, and our long run pace has
been very good, and we have a decent handle on the tyres, which is
tough in the races. "Had we started a bit higher up, we honestly
had the potential to finish higher as well, so that's probably the
learning from the weekend. "In the car, you feel like you want to
undercut the guys in front of you, but obviously you are going to
come out into traffic, and on a small track like this, it is quite
hard [to pass]. "The speed was good towards the end of each stint,
we were coming on strong, and so yeah, I am very happy."
