Lawson feels Racing Bulls ‘made a step’ in Austria after double points as he explains early radio message

Liam Lawson believes that Racing Bulls “made a step” in terms of their long run pace at the Austrian Grand Prix, with the squad securing another double points finish – despite an early radio message from Lawson suggesting that his car was on fire.

After both Lawson and team mate Arvid Lindblad reached Q3 in Saturday’s Qualifying, the pair lined up in P9 and P10 respectively – but there was potential trouble for Lawson before the race had started when it was confirmed that he would be investigated after the event for an alleged practice start infringement.

A further scare occurred within a few laps of the Grand Prix getting underway, as the New Zealander radioed in stating that there was fire on his car.

He was able to continue and, while Lindblad got ahead of him at one stage later in the race, Lawson retook the position after undercutting his team mate, leading to a P9 result ahead of Lindblad in P10.

It was also confirmed after the race that there would be no penalty for the alleged practice start infringement, the stewards deeming that Lawson’s actions were “appropriate given the circumstances”.

Reflecting on his early radio message about his brakes, Lawson explained after the race: “The first stint I think they were on fire, because I had smoke and couldn’t really breathe for a good few laps there – not ideal!

“But they settled down. Just first lap, the car’s heavy, obviously in traffic, but after that everything was okay.”

In terms of the pace throughout the weekend at the Red Bull Ring, the 24-year-old praised the team’s progress as he said: “It’s good. Honestly, the car’s been good all weekend. Compared to last week as well, we’ve definitely made a step in long run pace, so I’m very happy.”

Lindblad also spoke positively about how the event had unfolded for the squad, though also acknowledged that there are “things to work on” from his side.

“Overall I’m happy,” he explained. “We started P10, I was running behind Liam in the first stint, and then I gave it a good go on the start of the second stint and got ahead of him. But then the team pitted him a lap earlier for the last stint and he undercut me with new tyres.

“I gave it a go – I kind of thought they were going to do that, but it is what it is. I think regardless, on my side, I think there’s a few things to work on.

“I struggled a little bit on the hard [tyres], and just a bit with braking, so I think there’s a few things to work on on my side, but I think overall it was a good race. I gave it a good go, so I couldn’t have asked for much more.”

The momentum that Racing Bulls are carrying has left Lindblad excited for the upcoming British Grand Prix, his first home race as an F1 driver.

“The guys in the team are doing a really good job,” the 18-year-old commented. “They’ve brought some really good upgrades over the past couple of races. We’re in a really good place so, yeah, big thanks to them this weekend. Double points again, so very much looking forward to Silverstone.”

Racing Bulls’ double score in Spielberg means that they are now only 13 points behind Alpine in the fight for fifth place in the Teams’ Championship.