04/08/2025 20:00
Liam Lawson has pinpointed the Austrian Grand Prix as a
transformative moment in his F1 season after ending a 51-year
drought in Hungary. Lawson finished eighth at the Hungaroring to
round out the first half of the season on a positive note, with a
third points finish in four races. That run began with a
career-best sixth in the Austrian GP, where a suspension change to
the Racing Bulls machine has transformed his fortunes against
team-mate Isack Hadjar. In finishing eighth, following on from
another eighth place the week before in Belgium, Lawson became the
first New Zealander to score points in back-to-back races since
Denny Hulme at the 1974 Italian and Canadian Grands Prix.
Reflecting on the race, Lawson highlighted Austria as the key
turning point for his season, which started with a brutal axe by
Red Bull after just two races. "It's been a very tough year and
hard to string a series of good results in one, but recently it has
been good for us," Lawson told media, including RacingNews365. "We
need to learn from what is working right now and try to take that
forward, but nothing has changed other than some small things in
the car, and small things to me, which have helped me get more
comfortable. "It's been since Austria that I've felt more
comfortable, but the speed has always been there since we did the
switch. "We just had a lot of small things in the first part of
the year, and the consistency wasn't there, but now it is. "But it
is very tough to keep that, so we need to try and focus on doing
so."
