Liam Lawson produced the standout drive of his Formula 1 career in Baku, finishing fifth after a tense battle with teammate Yuki Tsunoda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson crossed the line six-tenths ahead of Tsunoda despite the Japanese driver running on fresher tyres, while a DRS train featuring Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton closed in behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Racing Bulls confirmed there were no team orders to let Tsunoda through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere were none at all,\u201d sporting director Alan Permane told DAZN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t going to let him through, of course. Liam did a great job keeping behind a faster car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYuki had fresh medium tyres and Liam did a great job holding him off with elbows out. Liam is very tough mentally, very strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been focused all weekend. He drove perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson admitted the final laps were intense as he concentrated on defending his position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had no idea what position I was in until we crossed the line, but I knew we were in a decent position because of all the cars that were behind me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt the end of the race, obviously, I\u2019m going to try and take a bit more risk to keep it there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kiwi had started from a career-best third on the grid after a chaotic qualifying session featuring a record six red flags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the race, George Russell passed him during the pit stops while Kimi Antonelli overtook him on track, but Lawson held off Tsunoda and the chasing pack to secure his best-ever F1 result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think [it was] rewarding after the last 10 or 15 laps, it was pretty intense,\u201d Lawson reflected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cObviously, it is a little bit disappointing from where we are starting and realistically we didn\u2019t have the speed to fight with the guys in front today. But you\u2019re always hopeful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd we tried everything today, but there just wasn\u2019t quite enough, but still to have a P5 is big for us, especially in the Championship right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson said he is eager to build on the consistency that delivered his standout weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe main thing is, as I say, our car has been consistently good across the board at all sorts of different tracks, so that\u2019s very positive for us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGoing forward, we need to try and keep that consistency and try to find a little more where we\u2019re fighting for very good results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t quite have the speed for Williams [in Baku], but to finish where we did, if we can consistently do that, it\u2019s very strong for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result marked a breakthrough moment for the rookie, who now enters a run of circuits where he has previous F1 experience, potentially giving him an edge in the midfield battle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liam Lawson produced the standout drive of his Formula 1 career in Baku, finishing fifth after a tense battle with teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Lawson crossed the line six-tenths ahead of Tsunoda despite the Japanese driver running on fresher tyres, while a DRS train featuring Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton closed in behind. Racing Bulls confirmed there were no team orders to let Tsunoda through. \u201cThere were none at all,\u201d sporting director Alan Permane told DAZN. \u201cWe weren\u2019t going to let him through, of course. Liam did a great job keeping behind a faster car. \u201cYuki had fresh medium tyres and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,757],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-driver-market","category-general"],"yoast_head":"\n