Liam Lawson has equalled his best-ever Formula 1 result. He soared from the rear of the grid to finish ninth in this morning’s United States Grand Prix at the COTA track.
Having started 19th, as the last car on the grid, Lawson ran a long and tidy first stint on hard tyres. He climbed from 19th to 11th over the opening 13 laps.
A Lap 3 spin for Lewis Hamilton at turn 19 left his Mercedes stranded in the gravel. That brought an early Safety Car part way through Lawson’s charge. However, the Kiwi was immediately back into it on the Lap 6 resumption.
RB kept Lawson out longer on the harder compound, before he made his sole stop on Lap 37 to switch to mediums.
He returned to the track in 12th, directly ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda, and gained spots when Colapinto and Magnussen boxed. His final on-track move came at Turn 12 on Gasly, which put him into the points.
Colapinto climbed back to tenth in the closing stages and reduced the gap to the Kiwi. However, he was never in a position to challenge for the position.
Ferrari stormed to a dominant one-two at Circuit of the Americas. A fast-starting Charles Leclerc took an 8.56-second victory over teammate Carlos Sainz.
World Championship contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris squabbled for the final place on the podium. The Stewards ultimately decided the result.
Norris took third off the three-time World Champion at Turn 15 with five laps remaining. However, he was penalised five seconds for the move after he was forced wide and off-track, where he took the position.
Norris crossed the line third, four seconds ahead, but was relegated to fourth which elevated Verstappen to the podium.
Oscar Piastri finished fifth, over 30 seconds to the good of Russell, who got past Sergio Perez over the final laps.
Nico Hulkenberg keeps the pressure on RB in the Constructors’ Championship with eighth, but Lawson’s two points ensure Haas remains just behind in the fight for sixth. Colapinto completed the top ten.
It was a difficult race for Lawson’s RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who finished 14th. Tsunoda was penalised five seconds for forcing Alex Albon off the track before later spinning on his own at Turn 1.
