Lawson Scores Best F1 Finish with Sixth at Austrian Grand Prix
- Jul 7, 2025
- 5 min read
Liam Lawson made it a weekend to remember at the Austrian Grand Prix as he followed up his impressive showing in qualifying with a sixth-place finish at the Red Bull Ring. The Visa Cash App Racing Bulls driver started the race in sixth position and was able to hold off the challenge of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to secure the best finish of his F1 career.
Teammate Isack Hadjar fought hard to finish in the points but had to settle for 12th place after finishing less than a second behind the Hass of Esteban Ocon in 10th.
Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Yuki Tsunoda ended the race in 16th place, while teammate Max Verstappen’s hopes of a fifth victory in Austria were ended early after being spun out by Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap.
QUOTES
Oracle Red Bull Racing
MAX VERSTAPPEN - DNF
“The incident with Kimi on the first lap was unfortunate but no one does that on purpose and I knew it was an accident. He apologised to me when we were walking back from the track and he came to my room afterwards to apologise again, we get on very well, he is an amazing guy and a super talented driver. P6 for Lawson this weekend is fantastic. Unfortunately for us this weekend there weren’t a lot of positives and although we were unlucky with the yellow flag in qualifying yesterday and the incident today, we lacked pace throughout. We will have a look at everything we did from this weekend, I know how hard the Team work and we need to get a better understanding of the car. We have had some amazing performances at this track in the past and I am the most disappointed about this result in front of a home crowd, but we will continue to try and do our best and my mentality and focus will not change.”
YUKI TSUNODA - 16th
“Firstly, apologies to Franco the move on him was a bit unnecessary, it was my mistake and I am sorry to my Team for the damage that caused and the time it cost us. It has been a poor day, and I am not sure what I am doing wrong right now, it is hard to find the reason behind why I can’t get it right in this car. The one lap pace is getting better but in terms of long run pace, the tyres feel like they are degrading lap by lap and very quickly. It feels like the track is chewing the tyres and it is really difficult to figure out why currently. I want to look through it with my Team and explore it more to find something different to do. I am really trying to get it right; I will look deeper into things and work harder to find the reasons. I need to focus on myself and want to improve. It is very frustrating, but I find myself in this situation and I have to resolve it myself. At the same time, I need to find the key to unlock the performance, whether it be technique or approach to this car."
CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal and CEO
“It was a horrible race for us and desperately unlucky for Max to be taken out at turn 3 when he had done nothing wrong, he had a good start and made good progress. It’s a shame, I don’t think we would have been racing the McLarens today but we would have been racing the Ferraris pretty hard. With Yuki it was again not a great race, he had damage to the front wing, a penalty and so on, unfortunately for us it was a weekend to forget.”
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls
LIAM LAWSON - 6th
“It was a great weekend, and it feels good to execute everything well. It’s been a tough season so far, with a lot of potential, and in this race, we were quick where it mattered and managed to see it through. After the first lap, I thought it might be over, but the team made a brave call with the one-stop strategy, it worked out perfectly. Full credit to them, they’ve been working incredibly hard behind the scenes, and I’m super proud. The car was really fast all weekend, we’re constantly pushing and making small adjustments to make it more comfortable. The goal now is to carry this momentum through the rest of the season. We need to take the positives, keep fighting, and keep scoring points.”
ISACK HADJAR - 12th
“It was a frustrating day. We did a very good race and we were comfortably in the points until 15 laps before the end of the race. We made the strategy work very well and race pace-wise, we were good; I was feeling fast. Unfortunately, though, we picked up some floor damage in Turn 1, and from there, I was losing more than 1 second per lap, so it was definitely a tough end for us. It’s a shame, as without the floor damage and after Liam finishing in P6, it could have been a double team point finish. Overall, the team did a really good job this weekend, considering the fast turnaround we made from Friday to Saturday, so well done to everyone. I’m looking forward to getting back to racing in Silverstone in only a few days.”
LAURENT MEKIES, Team Principal
“We left Canada with a bit of a bitter taste, with such a tight midfield any little mistake cost loads. Arriving in Austria, we were eager to deliver a strong result in front of the incredible Red Bull Ring crowd. This circuit is a world-class venue, and racing here feels like coming home for us. Today's race began with Liam starting from the third row in P6, thanks to an exceptional performance yesterday that showcased his speed. It’s never easy to start in a new team midseason, and he needed time to get used to our car. Yesterday’s great laps show the progress he is doing, together with the team. Isack’s starting position did not reflect his true potential this weekend. He demonstrated again his speed on this short yet challenging circuit, where a fraction of a second can significantly make the difference on the standings. The race was an incredible fight on a burning hot track. It did not look very bright after the first lap when both our cars were involved in incidents and lost many positions. From that point onward both Liam and Isack drove an incredible one stop race, whilst most of the field elected to 2-stop, and this allowed us to fight our way back to the very top of the midfield. The pace and the race execution were brilliant, Liam was unstoppable and defended for 70 laps to Fernando. As for Isack, only some debris that we picked up in the second part of the race stopped us from achieving a double points finish as we lost a very large amount of downforce on his car. It’s a well-deserved reward for the relentless hard work of all the women and the men in Faenza and Milton Keynes. We believe we are moving in the right direction. With Silverstone just around the corner, we look forward to another thrilling home Grand Prix. The British GP is always a sold-out spectacle, and we will reset and try our best to put on a solid performance once again for our fans and employees.”
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