29/06/2025 22:00
Liam Lawson was left to reflect on "an incredibly tough year" after
securing a breakthrough result that ended a 49-year wait for New
Zealand. In finishing sixth in the Austrian Grand Prix, not only
did Lawson secure his best result of his 22-race F1 career, but it
was also his home country's best since Chris Amon was fifth in the
1976 Spanish Grand Prix. When mentioned to Lawson by RacingNews365
after the race at the Red Bull Ring, a beaming smile broke out on
his face. "Is it really?" he replied. "That's pretty cool.
"Obviously, for New Zealand, it's great as well. A few Kiwis are
coming up, and hopefully in the future, we can have some more of
them on the way into Formula 1." The result was naturally a relief
for Lawson, who took full advantage of the lap one crash involving
Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli to
finish the race in the position he started. Although Lawson was
eighth in Monaco recently, it was clear from his reaction that this
result meant so much more. "It's been an incredibly tough year, a
very tough year with a lot of potential," said Lawson, who was
demoted by Red Bull after two grands prix, returning to the
'junior' team. "I came into F1, had a few races, and most of them
converted very well. Sometimes you can have all the confidence and
speed in the world, and they don't, and it's felt like that this
year. "So to finally have a result is amazing, but we need to keep
doing this." A very lucky moment for Lawson It was a result,
however, that nearly did not happen thanks to Antonelli's moment of
braking hell into Turn 3. On the run up the hill to the sharp
right-hander, Antonelli suffered a severe lock-up. As he skidded
his way through the corner, he clipped the right-hand side of
Lawson's car, forcing him off track, before taking out four-time F1
champion Verstappen. Lawson lost three places as a result, but his
car was mercifully undamaged. "I've seen it [the incident] now,
and, obviously, he was trying to avoid all of us who were slowing
down," said Lawson. "On lap one, everyone backs up a lot. I know it
wasn't on purpose. We were very lucky to survive. I don't actually
know how. I thought I got hit, to be honest. I thought we were
probably going to have damage, and the car was fine. So, yeah, got
lucky."
