Lawson in ‘survival mode’ during brutal’ Brazilian GP

Liam Lawson has described how survival was “hard enough” in the rain-hit Sao Paulo Grand Prix, in which he finished ninth.

The Kiwi started a career-best fifth on the Interlagos grid having just missed out on a point in the sprint race the day before and ultimately went on to take ninth-place after passing Lewis Hamilton and also holding off Sergio Perez.

Lawson’s race was impacted by being touched into a spin by Oscar Piastri who received a 10-second time penalty, and by stopping for the full wet tyres shortly before the race was red-flagged following Franco Colapinto’s big accident. 

Lawson scored points for the second time in three races since replacing Daniel Ricciardo with his second ninth-place, and felt that whilst a double points haul with Yuki Tsunoda finishing seventh, from the three-five grid, it “was a shame.”

“Two cars in the points is great for the team, but from where we started, it is a bit of a shame,” Lawson told F1.com.

“Our race really got unwound a little bit when we got turned around [by Piastri], and then we boxed for extreme [wet] tyres, but it was tough and honestly, to survive was hard enough. 

“It was a very brutal race, we struggled a little bit at the end for pace, but the start was strong, so maybe we used a bit too much of the tyre. We will have a look.”

Lawson also touched on the battle for sixth in the constructors’, which RB was in a fight with Haas over, but Alpine 33 point haul for a double podium result with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly lifted the team up to sixth, who are now three points ahead of Haas and five of RB. 

“It is a shame, but obviously Alpine made the most of a race like this, and it is great for them so congratulations,” said Lawson.