Liam Lawson during the Belgium Grand Prix, 2025. Photo: ANTONIN VINCENT / AFP
Liam Lawson is back in the points with a drive that impressed his new team principal.
Lawson finished eighth in the Belgian Grand Prix to pick up points for the third time this season.
The 23-year-old started ninth on the grid in a race that began behind a safety car because of rain at Spa-Francorchamps.
He was able to overtake Racing Bulls team-mate Isack Hadjar on lap 12 and got priority in the pits to change tyres as the track dried.
"Liam had a near-perfect race," said Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane.
"He managed his tyres exceptionally well, both on the intermediates and on the dry tyres.
"He was strong and able to comfortably pull away from [Kick Sauber driver] Bortoleto behind and was very happy with the car overall."
Lawson is now 14th in the Drivers' Championship with 16 points.
"I really enjoyed today," he said afterwards. "Often in those conditions you just want to survive, so I'm very happy for the team and how everything came together.
"It's always tricky when you cross over to a dry tyre when it's damp, but the car was fast and in clean air we had great pace."
New Zealand driver Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls. Photo: FLORENT GOODEN / PHOTOSPORT
Oscar Piastri beat McLaren teammate Lando Norris to win his sixth race of the season and extend his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 16 points.
The Hungarian Grand Prix is next weekend before a four-week break.
Racing Bulls remains seventh in the Constructors' Championship, but are now just two points behind Kick Sauber and five ahead of Aston Martin.
Permane, who took over from Laurent Mekies after he was promoted to Red Bull, admits they don't have much time to prepare for round 14.
"There are only a few days to reflect on this race as we're quickly onto Budapest with a very different track and a very different downforce level," Permane said.
"It'll be much hotter and we've got different tyres, but we expect our car to perform well there, and we will have our usual target of getting both our cars into Q3 and in the points."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
