Formula 1 result: Liam Lawson’s points streak ends as Kiwi finishes 12th in Belgian Grand Prix
Liam Lawson’s streak of finishes in the Formula One points has ended at five, after the Kiwi was forced to settle for 12th at the Belgian Grand Prix.
While he’d started ninth thanks to grid penalties ahead of him, the pace disadvantage of Lawson’s Racing Bulls ultimately told over the 44 laps at Spa-Francorchamps.
“Every single wheel-to-wheel combat I had today, I lost down the straights,” Lawson told his race engineer Alexandre Iliopoulos after the chequered flag.
“I don’t know what else I was meant to do.”
Lawson had been as high as sixth earlier in the race, but couldn’t hold on as the likes of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and McLaren’s Lando Norris – who started 21st and 13th respectively – made their way from outside the top 10 to the points.
The Kiwi was also impacted by the lack of a vital car upgrade from Racing Bulls, which instead went to his teammate Arvid Lindblad. The team had decided whichever driver qualified higher at Silverstone this month would receive the upgrade for Belgium, a challenge which Lindblad won.
However, Racing Bulls could also be forced into an awkward situation in managing its two drivers, after Lindblad forced Lawson off the track to overtake his teammate, on his way to taking ninth place.
Lawson remains 10th in the drivers championship with 39 points, three back from Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who also failed to score. Lindblad’s two points for ninth, though, does see Racing Bulls and Alpine level in the constructors championship on 61 points apiece.
At the front of the grid, world championship leader Kimi Antonelli ended a three-race winless streak to take the chequered flag, and become the first driver since 2021 to win the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position.
With Belgium being his sixth victory of the season, Antonelli’s charge towards the world championship was boosted even further by teammate George Russell failing to finish after being taken out on the first lap, to lead the standings by 47 points from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
After becoming the first non-Mercedes driver to win a grand prix this year at Silverstone, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc came home second, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed the podium in third.
Hadjar was arguably the driver of the day, after making his way from the back of the grid to finish sixth.
Formula One continues next week with the Hungarian Grand Prix, as the final race before the four week mid-season summer break.
Starting in an artificially high position, following grid penalties to Norris and Hadjar, Lawson immediately got around the Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto, and went wheel to wheel with his teammate, before getting past braking after the Kemmel Straight.
And when a collision with Hamilton ended the day for Russell, Lawson had climbed from ninth to sixth by the end of a first lap, under a yellow flag. By the time the safety car came in on lap four, Lawson’s pace disadvantage to the frontrunners meant consolidation was his biggest priority.
With pace disadvantages to his teammate and Norris’ McLaren, Lawson lost two places in as many laps. Lindblad’s upgraded car told into turn five by getting past his teammate on lap eight, while Norris continued to cut through the field, and got past both Racing Bulls.
That, then, left Lawson eighth and under threat from the Alpines, with both Gasly and Franco Colapinto battling each other behind the Kiwi.
Gasly pitting on lap 15 saw Lawson stop one lap later to protect the undercut, and successfully stay ahead when he emerged in 13th, albeit less than a second ahead of the Alpine. However, Lindblad pitting one lap later left him and Lawson wheel to wheel into turn six, which forced the Kiwi wide and opened the door for Gasly.
A virtual safety car on lap 21 changed the complexion of Lawson’s race. Both Audi cars were able to stop, seeing Nico Hulkenberg emerge in 11th to break up the fight between Lawson and Gasly, while the disruption allowed Boroleto to move back into the top 10 when he pitted.
Having battled to stay inside the top 10, Lawson gave way on lap 30, when he came under attack from both Alpines, and lost out to Colapinto to fall to 11th, as the Kemmel Straight again proved to be drivers’ best chance to overtake, a feat Gasly also exploited with less than 10 laps to go.
The result sees Lawson miss the points for just the third time out of 10 grands prix this season, after doing the same in Melbourne and Miami.
Belgian Grand Prix finishing order
Did not finish: Lance Stroll - Aston Martin, Sergio Perez - Cadillac, George Russell - Mercedes
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.