Lawson misses out in Spain as Safety Car shakes up “strong race”

Liam Lawson’s hopes of scoring back-to-back points were ruined by bad luck at the Spanish Grand Prix, where the Kiwi missed the Safety Car line by just half a second — undoing the gains of an otherwise impressive drive on a mixed but encouraging weekend for Racing Bulls.

Launching from thirteenth on the grid, Lawson had reason to believe a second straight points finish was on the cards given the overtaking opportunities the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya presents.

He didn’t make up any ground as the field rounded the first turn, however, he held onto the rear of the Sauber rookie ahead, becoming part of a long DRS train that ran all the way up to Pierre Gasly in P8. 

It wasn’t until the intervals between the midfield drivers started to grow that Lawson forged his first overtake of the race, disposing of Gabriel Bortoleto on Lap 13 to move into the points-paying positions.

Five laps later, the Racing Bulls pit wall called him into the pitlane for his first stop of the race, arming Lawson with the medium compound tyre as rejoined the race in P16.

First on Lawson’s hit list was Alex Albon, who ran three seconds up the road before the pair clashed twice at Turn 1. 

The first incident saw Albon forced onto the escape road after refusing to yield to Lawson, while the second ended in contact — ultimately resulting in Albon’s retirement from the Spanish Grand Prix due to front wing damage (his second front wing of the race after damaging his first on the opening lap).

The Williams driver was also handed a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in their initial scuffle, with his defence — “Liam just pushed me off” — failing to convince the Stewards, while Lawson was cleared of any wrongdoing on both occasions.

Putting that behind him, the Kiwi made his way up to the rear of the next car on track, Ollie Bearman.

Lawson attempted to make an over-ambitious move into Turn 1, diving down the inside of the corner, however, he ran in too deep and made contact with the Haas rookie, forcing Bearman to divert to the escape road as the incident was put under investigation.

Just beyond the halfway mark of the 66-lap race, Lawson finally managed to complete the move without gaining more attention from the Stewards, moving into the top ten.

One of four drivers to run the scorching Spanish Grand Prix as a two-stop race, he made his final tyre change on Lap 46, dropping to P13 as he rejoined on the soft compound tyre. 

Inheriting his way back into the fringes of the points, a late Safety Car on Lap 56 threw Racing Bulls’ strategy into disarray, with the team narrowly missing the opportunity to pit Lawson while his rivals were able to capitalise by putting on fresh sets of tyres for the remainder of the race.

“We ended up in the wrong position and missed the Safety Car line by half a second because everyone in front of us boxed,” he explained.

“To be that close after all the work we did in the race is really unfortunate.”

The #30 sat as the lead back-marker when the lapped cars were permitted to overtake the Safety Car, with a vulnerable Lawson guiding the field up to the back of the pack when the race restarted with six laps to go.

The Kiwi struggled to hold onto the rear of Pierre Gasly ahead, losing the DRS advantage within one lap of racing being back underway.

In the RB driver’s mirrors, he had two drivers searching for their first points finishes of the season — one driving the #5 Sauber car, and the other in the #14 Aston Martin.

Bortoleto was no match for home hero Fernando Alonso’s post-SC pace, losing out to the Spaniard through the middle sector of the 4.7km lap.

That left Lawson unprotected as Alonso’s final target in P10, with just one more lap on the board for the veteran to get the move done.

Breaking Lawson’s heart but sending his home grandstands into a frenzy, Alonso managed to do so on Lap 65, demoting the Kiwi into eleventh place as they took the chequered flag.

“From our side, it was a very strong race,” Lawson said. 

“Despite spending a lot of it in traffic, we had good speed and were overtaking cars, so it was working out.”

“As we look ahead to Canada, we’ll take the positives of great race pace. 

“Points are always the goal.”

The Kiwi finished four seconds behind the Spaniard, who was promoted to P9 due to Verstappen’s 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, while his teammate Isack Hadjar continued his string of impressive results to add six points to RB’s season total.

But while Hadjar impressed, Nico Hulkenberg excelled in Spain to finish in fifth place, outscoring Haas’ constructors’ championship rivals by four points to close the margin to just two points ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Speaking after the chequered flag, Racing Bulls Team Principal Laurent Mekies reflected on not only his team’s upward trajectory in Spain but across the entire triple-header.

“As we come to the end of a triple header, it’s been three times in Q3 and three times in the points for us, so it’s been mega,” Mekies said. 

“There’s been lots of progress compared to this time last here in Spain where we weren’t very fast, but this year the car was strong, and we could fight at the top of the midfield for most of the race; the safety car at the end mixed things up a bit, but nonetheless we gained some very good points. 

“An incredible performance from Isack across the whole weekend, yesterday in Q3 and out there killing it on track today. 

“Liam was stuck in some traffic after a slightly slower Quali yesterday, but he was fast, he made some very good moves and he’s back to a very good pace. 

“We started this triple header in P8 in the Constructors’ Championship, and we’re leaving it in P6. 

“It’s only the beginning of the fight though and we still have a lot of work to do. 

“We know we will have two very strong cars in Canada, but it’ll be tough to maintain our position. 

“We’ll keep our heads down and continue to push so we can stay in the game and keep challenging some of the big teams.”

Held at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, the Canadian Grand Prix is yet another race Lawson has yet to experience in Formula 1 machinery, however, he will have one week off to both rest and prepare for the uncharted challenge in two weeks’ time.

The Canadian Grand Prix will run across June 13-15.

Image: Sam Bagnall/Sutton Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

Buy the new issue of Auto Action Premium HERE

Read the new issue of Auto Action Digital HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here or you can purchase a copy of the latest issue from one of our outlets here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine