Lawson soars to points finish in United States Grand Prix

Liam Lawson has equaled his best-ever Formula 1 result, soaring from the rear of the grid to finish ninth in this morning’s United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.

Having started 19th, as the last car on the grid, with Mercedes’ George Russell beginning from the pits, Lawson ran a long and tidy first stint on hard tyres, climbing from 19th to 11th over the opening 13 laps.

A Lap 3 spin for Lewis Hamilton at Turn 19 left his Mercedes stranded in the gravel and brought an early Safety Car part way through Lawson’s charge, but the Kiwi was immediately back into it on the Lap 6 resumption.

RB kept Lawson out longer on the harder compound, before he made his sole stop on Lap 37 to switch to mediums.

He returned to the track in 12th, directly ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda, and gained spots when Colapinto and Magnussen boxed, with his final on-track move coming at Turn 12 on Gasly, which put him into the points.

Colapinto climbed back to tenth in the closing stages and reduced the gap to the Kiwi, but was never in a position to challenge for the position.

Ferrari stormed to a dominant one-two at Circuit of the Americas, with a fast-starting Charles Leclerc taking an 8.56-second victory over teammate Carlos Sainz.

World Championship contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris squabbled for the final place on the podium over the closing stages, with the Stewards ultimately deciding the result.

Norris took third off the three-time World Champion at Turn 15 with five laps remaining, but was penalised 5 seconds for the move after he was forced wide and off-track, where he took the position.

Norris crossed the line third, four seconds ahead, but was relegated to fourth which elevated Verstappem to the podium.

Oscar Piastri finished fifth, over 30 seconds to the good of Russell, whoo got past Sergio Perez over the final laps.

Nico Hulkenberg keeps the pressure on RB in the Constructors’ Championship with eighth, but Lawson’s two points ensure Haas remains just behind in the fight for sixth. Colapinto completed the top ten.

It was a difficult race for Lawson’s RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who finished 14th. Tsunoda, who was penalised 5 seconds for forcing Alex Albon off the track before later spinning on his own at Turn 1.

United States Grand Prix results

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