After just missing out on pole position by the narrowest of margins (2 thousandths of a second) Liam Lawson would start from P2 on the grid.
His race got off to a great start as Marco Wittmann, the polesitter, and Lawson flew off into the lead while the rest of the pack chopped and changed around.
The AF Corse team, whose strategy and efficient pitstop yesterday seemed to pay off, decided to copy their ways and opt for a slightly early tyre change.
Lawson pitted on lap 7 with another fantastic stop from the pit crew leaving the Kiwi out in net 1st on track under-cutting the leading German Marco Wittmann. Marco entered the pits one second ahead of the Red Bull and exited the pits one second behind.
Albon also pitted on lap 7 but experienced a front left puncture after he left the pit lane and then had to immediately re-enter the pits.
Lawson gradually moved up the positions as more cars started to enter the pits for their mandatory stops.
Until the race reached lap 27 where Lawson moved into the lead after challenging Nico Muller who was the last driver to pit.
The overtake was excellently timed as it meant there was a buffer in between the race leader Lawson and 3rd placed Wittmann behind.
Later on in the lap Wittmann was also able to pass Muller but the time stuck behind meant that Lawson could extend his lead to one second.
Liam was being hunted down by Wittmann with a constantly fluctuating gap of 1 – 0.5 seconds. The German’s Mercedes seemed to be able to close up on the straights but Lawson’s Ferrari had the superior braking and cornering ability.
Into the final 2 laps the gap was gradually decreasing but Liam kept his defensive stance . The gap went down from a second to 0.58s as the two drivers entered the final corners of the final lap.
It could have been anyone’s game as Wittmann pulled out of the draft and seemed like he could have slung himself passed!
But it wasn’t enough and Liam Lawson crossed the line to grab his second victory of the weekend! He claimed 55 of a total 56 points on offer for the entire weekend. Just missing out on the extra point for pole position in the second race.
Liam came over the team radio after crossing the line saying: “I was maxed out, absolutely maxed out!”.
Post race interview:
How was that race? Marco Wittmann almost pipped you at the line there.
“Marco was definitely quicker than me but I think the BMW had some issues on the braking. I was able to always brake a bit later and honestly that’s what saved me”.
What was the crucial moment for you in that race?
“The team really nailed the pitstop when it counted and this is what made the race honestly…”.
How does it feel now that you have claimed two wins in a Red Bull at the Red Bull ring?
“For red bull it’s epic for us to win here. This is the home track for the sponsor with the first race in Monza obviously being the home track for the team”
“This team is seriously the best! . . . plus the fact that we tested last week are the reasons why we could be so successful this weekend”.
What a perfect end to the weekend, he could not have wanted it go go any other way! Lawson moved from 5th at the beginning of the weekend to now shooting back up to second, only 12 points off the top spot!
The top 5 in the championship now look like this:
Featured image source: dtm.com