RB driver Liam Lawson felt fortunate to only have spun off the track once and not crash out on 10 occasions throughout the Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Lawson finished ninth last Sunday, scoring two points for the sister Red Bull team, with his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda finishing in seventh place.
The New Zealand driver was also involved in a few scrapes with Oscar Piastri, Sergio Perez, and Lewis Hamilton in perilous conditions at the Interlagos circuit.
“It’s obviously what could have been, maybe, without that [the contact with Piastri],” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“We obviously lost a lot of time in the red flag, that was just really unlucky timing, Alpine made the right call there by staying out.
“Honestly, I didn’t think we would have made another lap on the inters, it was so wet, so fair play to the guys who did stay out but, obviously, something I’ll learn from.
“I think, initially, I probably jumped the gun a little bit and thought it was too wet but, I’ll learn from that going forward.”
He added: “I nearly crashed the car probably 10 times, It was very sketchy but the most important thing was staying on the track and, fortunately, we were able to do that.”
Lawson optimistic about fight with Alpine
Despite both drivers scoring points, RB’s battle with Haas became a three-team battle as Alpine achieved a double-podium finish to propel from ninth up to sixth.
In the Constructors’ Championship RB now resides in eighth place, two points behind Haas and and another three points behind Alpine.
“Yeah, I think, obviously, they made the most of this,” Lawson added regarding Alpine’s unexpected 33-point haul.
“It’s very close – five points; It’s totally doable for us, so we’ll obviously focus on trying to score good points during the last triple header.”
The positives both RB drivers will take are that they both managed to qualify in the top five during Sunday’s morning qualifying session.
The duo achieved the best qualifying results of their careers so far, as Tsunoda started the race from the second row in third place.
Despite it being in wet conditions, RB will hope it can carry its qualifying pace to Las Vegas and convert it into some more points on Sunday.
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