From a pitlane start to seventh in the Mexico Grand Prix, Liam Lawson has made a point. Having been chastised by Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen after their ‘clash’ in FP2 on Friday and losing a grid place after qualifying eighth, the Visa Cash App Racing Bull’s driver was relegated to the back of the grid for a technical breach in qualifying. Well, his determination shone through and finishing seventh sends a statement to his critics, to his fan base and more particularly to those who are deciding (or have decided) who will be driving for Racing Bulls in 2027.
While Lawson crossed the line in ninth, time penalties for McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto who finished in front of him helped propel him up two places to seventh.
“A crazy race for us today starting from the pitlane,” commented Lawson. “The first part of the race nothing really went our way. We missed the VSC and then boxed a lap before the Safety car and red flag so lost a lot of time.
“Started the restart in P15 and went to war. Obviously a good recovery for us from where we started, a shame for Arvid as he had a really good race up until then.”
Ironically, if he had started from grid nine, he may well have finished no higher than seventh given the faster Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and Mercedes cars in front of him
Lawson remains in ninth overall in the Drivers’ Standings while his VCARB team stay in fifth.
Teams’ Standings
Pos, Team, Pts.
1/ Mercedes 630
2/ Ferrari 504
3/ Red Bull Racing 382
4/ McLaren 365
5/ Racing Bulls 108
6/ Alpine 69
7/ Haas F1 Team 31
8/ Audi 24
9/ Williams 12
10/ Aston Martin 7
11/ Cadillac 0
Drivers’ Standings (Top 10)
1/ Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 380
2/ Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 261
3/ Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 259
4/ George Russell Mercedes 250
5/ Charles Leclerc Ferrari 245
6/ Lando Norris McLaren 221
7/ Oscar Piastri McLaren 144
8/ Isack Hadjar Red Bull Racing 107
9/ Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 83
10/ Pierre Gasly Alpine 42
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