Liam Lawson has capped off his return to Red Bull Racing with a seventh-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix, bringing home valuable points on a difficult afternoon for the team at Zandvoort.
The Kiwi was left as Red Bull’s sole runner after Max Verstappen crashed heavily on the opening lap, while out front Lando Norris fought his way to a second consecutive Grand Prix victory ahead of Mercedes pair Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.
Lawson had been called into the Red Bull seat for the weekend in place of the injured Isack Hadjar and showed encouraging pace from the outset, qualifying eighth and just a tenth of a second behind Verstappen on Saturday.
Sunday brought a different challenge, with heavy rain falling in the lead-up to the race and leaving the circuit slippery despite conditions improving enough for most of the field to start on slick tyres.
Norris got away cleanly from pole to retain the lead, while Antonelli made the better start of the two Mercedes drivers and moved ahead of Russell into second.
Further back, Lawson and Verstappen found themselves fighting through the opening corners, but the Dutchman’s final home Grand Prix came to an early and dramatic end just moments later.
Verstappen touched the slippery painted lines on the main straight and lost the rear of his Red Bull, sending the car heavily into the barriers and bringing out the red flag. He climbed out of the car unharmed.
Lawson had been directly behind his teammate when the crash unfolded.
“It was a shame to see what happened to Max. That part of the track was incredibly slippery; on slick tyres, it was so easy to lose the car there,” Lawson said.
“I was right behind him, so it was a pretty scary moment. I’m glad he’s okay.”
The stoppage left Lawson flying the flag for Red Bull for the remainder of the afternoon.
Once the race resumed, Antonelli produced a strong restart to take the lead away from Norris, while Oscar Piastri moved past Russell into third.
Lawson settled into seventh and remained there as the leading group began to stretch away, with Red Bull unable to match the pace of McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari around Zandvoort.
The first round of pit stops began to shake up the order as Russell, Piastri, Antonelli and Norris all made their way onto the hard tyre. Ferrari ran longer with Lewis Hamilton briefly moving into the lead before making his own stop.
Charles Leclerc was one of the drivers making progress through the middle stages, finding a way past Piastri before Hamilton followed through soon afterwards.
Lawson, meanwhile, continued to circulate in seventh. With the cars ahead proving too quick to realistically challenge and a gap developing behind, it became a largely quiet afternoon for the New Zealander.
“It was a pretty lonely race for me today,” Lawson admitted.
“We just didn’t have the pace to fight with the guys in front so it was tricky. I’m happy I got points for the team.”
The battle for victory was far less settled.
Antonelli had controlled much of the opening half of the race, but Norris began to close as the strategies played out. After making his second stop on Lap 48, the McLaren driver quickly erased a gap of more than five seconds to the Mercedes.
By Lap 52, Norris was right behind Antonelli and soon made his move into Turn 1 to take the position. Hamilton was still ahead on strategy at that stage, but Norris quickly dispatched the Ferrari as well to return to the front.
Another twist followed when Esteban Ocon stopped his Haas on track, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car.
Mercedes took advantage by pitting Antonelli for soft tyres, while Norris stayed out. Antonelli rejoined behind teammate Russell, with Mercedes eventually swapping its cars to give the younger driver a chance to chase down the McLaren.
Norris was already too far up the road.
He controlled the final stages to take the chequered flag 11.536 seconds ahead of Antonelli, while Russell held off a late challenge from Hamilton to complete the podium.
Leclerc finished just behind his Ferrari teammate in fifth, with Piastri sixth.
Lawson followed in seventh, although his finishing position briefly came under threat after he was handed a 10-second penalty for a yellow flag infringement late in the race. He had done enough to build a buffer over Nico Hulkenberg behind and retained the position once the penalty was applied.
It was a solid reward from a weekend in which Lawson had little time to become comfortable with a different car and team.
“I knew coming into the weekend it’d be difficult, especially at a circuit like Zandvoort where you need a lot of confidence in the car, but I feel like we extracted everything we could,” he said.
“It’s never easy stepping into an entirely new car, but the Team did a good job in making me feel comfortable, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies was also pleased with Lawson’s contribution on what was otherwise a tough weekend for the team.
“Liam did a good job stepping into Isack’s car this weekend. It’s never easy to step into a different team and different car but he did very well,” Mekies said.
“He was just one tenth away from Max yesterday in qualifying and today took the points that were available to him with the seventh place.”
Hülkenberg followed Lawson home in eighth to add another points finish for Audi, while Fernando Alonso took ninth for Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for Alpine.
Yuki Tsunoda finished 11th ahead of Arvid Lindblad, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, while Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas, Ocon, Lance Stroll, Ollie Bearman and Verstappen were among those who failed to finish.
For Lawson, seventh place was a positive end to a demanding weekend back in Red Bull colours. There was little he could do about the pace of the six cars ahead, but after Verstappen’s early exit, the Kiwi kept his race together and made sure Red Bull came away from Zandvoort with something to show for the weekend.
Header Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool
