‘It’s been a long time!’ – Lawson boosted by ‘really cool’ run to P6 during Qualifying in Austria

Liam Lawson was all smiles after charging to a top six grid slot in Saturday’s Qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix, marking a breakthrough following his return to Racing Bulls.

Lawson started the 2025 campaign at the senior Red Bull team but was demoted after two challenging race weekends and has since been trying to rebuild his confidence.

After flashes of promise, this weekend’s visit to the Red Bull Ring has seen Lawson step it up a gear – the New Zealander building on strong practice pace to reach Q3 and brilliantly post the sixth-fastest time.

With that marking his best grid position since last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which he started from fifth, Lawson beamed: “It feels like it’s been a long time! It’s really cool to have a good Quali.

“We see everything behind the scenes and in the last couple of races everything’s felt really good, honestly. I’ve felt really good. We’ve done a lot of work on the car, and on my side as well, just to make it more comfortable for me.

“It’s been there, it just hasn’t shown, so it’s nice to show it today, but obviously tomorrow is also the important day.”

Pressed on what has made the difference so far this weekend, he continued: “A smooth Quali, honestly. The last couple of weekends the pace has been there through practice – Canada was strong, Barcelona was strong, and just in Quali it wasn’t.

“This weekend, of all the weekends to get it across the line, it’s been cool because it’s so close. It puts pressure on us behind the wheel to execute, and same on the team.

“With the car we’ve been fine-tuning all weekend and we don’t have time to miss anything, because everybody else is chasing as well. It’s cool to get it across the line!”

Lawson has just one points finish to his name this season, courtesy of a run to eighth place at the Monaco Grand Prix, but he is optimistic of adding another in Spielberg.

“I hope so!” Lawson said of his chances. “At the same time, the [tyre degradation] is decent, and the long runs are tricky. We had a good long run [in practice], but it’s always different in a race when you’re in traffic, and I’m sure there’s going to be a mix of strategies.”

Lawson’s rookie team mate, Isack Hadjar, experienced a more challenging session as he dropped out during the Q2 phase and will start Sunday’s race from 13th.

“It’s disappointing, because Q1 was looking really good,” the Frenchman reflected. “Even my Q1 lap would have qualified me for Q3, so I don’t know how we can go backwards from that.

“Usually we make progress and it wasn’t the case today, so it’s very disappointing. It was very inconsistent in Q2, on both new sets of tyres as well, so it’s hard to understand.”