Liam Lawson relieved that everything aligned in his F1 Austrian GP points haul, as Esteban Ocon credits good race car for recovery into points.
Having had a tough start with Red Bull and getting moved to Visa Cash App RB, Lawson took his time to get going with the F1 team, especially against Isack Hadjar, who after the Australia debacle, has been strong. Things changed in Monaco for the Kiwi and he has been on the up since then.
He hasn’t managed to get those scores but in F1 Austrian GP, he finally got the big one finishing sixth after undertaking a bold one stop strategy. He was aided by Fernando Alonso, who was also on one stop strategy. The Spaniard managed to keep a faster Gabriel Bortoleto at bay just in time.
Everything worked in favour of Lawson, as he ended up being the best Red Bull finisher in its home event in Austria. “Honestly, [it was] not too bad [with the tyres in the end],” he said to media. “It’s been a weird one this year with tyres, trying to get on top of them sometimes. On paper we came here this weekend pretty certain it was going to be a clear two-stop.
“And I think most people thought that as well. And after our numbers on Friday, we looked at the temperature today, and I was pretty concerned, honestly, with a one-stop, but the team knew, I don’t know how, but very happy that they did. Not just for Austria, but the last few races, the car has been very quick, and we haven’t been able to convert. So to do that this weekend is pretty cool.
“We were very lucky to survive Lap 1, I thought I was hit and we probably have damage but it was fine, quite lucky. Towards the end, I was more worried. Gabriel was there with fresh tyres. Basically I could keep Fernando there just, but with somebody coming on quick on new tyres, I was quite concerned. So got a bit lucky that they finished a lap behind when I got a clean final lap to just cruise around,” summed up Lawson.
The Kiwi was more relieved to attain the result considering the year he has had. He also thanked his team for changing things for him to help him suit better in the car. He was getting there slowly in the last few rounds and he finally got the result to show it as well.
“It’s been an incredibly tough year, a very tough year with a lot of potential,” continued Lawson. “I came into F1 last year and had a few races, and most of them converted very well. And 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 obviously keep doing this as well.
“I think Canada, we had really good speed in practice. Barcelona had good speed in practice, Monaco as well, and the result didn’t convert. We’ve been pushing a lot with the car, and especially with our side of the garage, they’ve been doing a lot of work to make me comfortable, and we made some changes this weekend, and they’ve worked really, really well.
“We need to obviously keep pushing. But it’s sometimes like that in F1, sometimes the speed and everything can be there, but there’s a lot of variables in the sport, and they’ve worked for us this weekend,” summed up Lawson, as Red Bull confirmed F2 racer Arvid Lindblad to make his FP1 debut in this weekend’s British GP in place of Yuki Tsunoda to fufil the FIA requirement.
The Brit attained his FIA superlicense before getting to 18-years after Red Bull’s request was approved. Since then he took his first F1 test with Visa Cash App RB in Imola and will now make his grand prix weekend debut. He may as well get a chance to drive Lawson’s car in future to fulfil the FP1 requirement.
Looking elsewhere at Austrian GP, it was a recovery drive from Haas’ Ocon, who qualified outside the Top 10, but made his way inside it, despite undertaking the two stop strategy. The Frenchman has had such drives already during the course of the season, as he credits the team for making a good race car, albeit with the only blip in qualifying pace.
“Yeah, definitely, we know what to work on,” said Ocon to media. “We need to work to get more pace out of qualifying. That would make our Sundays easier. But we have a good race car underneath us. We showed that we had the competitiveness to be able to fight inside the point-scoring zone. We were able to make good moves and a bit too tight moves at times.
“I got pushed out of the track quite a few times, so it was tough racing. The car was very reliable, which was a good thing. To get a small reward for such a hard race is not well-paid, I would say. But it’s still a good reward for the team and hopefully that will make the difference at the end of the year. Looking at the race, I think the first set really worked out. I’m not sure about the second one.
“We need to see in hindsight. There were a lot of possible combinations. I think in any strategy, one-stop, two-stop with a medium or whatever, we would have ended up in the same place. That’s my feeling in hindsight. Now we need to see exactly when I sit down with the guys there in the office,” summed up Ocon.
Here’s British GP livery of Visa Cash App RB
Here’s Yuki Tsunoda on low run
