Liam Lawson made a cheeky quip at Yuki Tsunoda’s apparent lack of pace after securing a fifth-place finish ahead of the Red Bull driver at Formula 1‘s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Lawson’s stint with the Milton Keynes-based squad came to an unceremonious end after the New Zealander was sacked only two races into the 2025 season.
Since then, his replacement, Tsunoda, has been struggling equally to extract results from the RB21.
That said, the Japanese driver scored a sublime sixth-placed finish at last weekend’s race on the streets of Baku.
Lawson, who is now back at sister team Racing Bulls, was able to jump the Honda-backed for a P5 at the chequered flag, after pipping Tsunoda at turn 3, on warmer tyres, after the round of pit stops.
Looking back at his race, Lawson commented that he was surprised that Tsunoda wasn’t able to catch up to him, especially given Verstappen’s pace in the other RB21.
“I mean, for sure, [Tsunoda] is on a fresh set of tyres, on a Medium, on a grippier tyre and, honestly, I was preparing for him to end up catching me quicker, and I expected them to be faster,” he said after the 51-lap race.
“Obviously, looking at Max today, they had a great race, and the car looks good.”
Lawson reveals the lesson that allowed him to beat Tsunoda
Tsunoda revealed that while he could have gone for a move on Lawson, he chose to keep his P6 result rather than to go for a ‘heroic’ overtake.
The Japanese driver’s tentative approach, however, was perplexing to Lawson, who believed that Tsunoda’s tyre advantage would have been enough for him to make the move.
On the flip side, however, the Racing Bulls’ straight-line speed proved to be a worthy complement for Lawson, who attributed his defence to a pacey final sector throughout the Grand Prix.
“So I think when I saw him come out on a better tyre, I was expecting him to catch me faster,” he added.
“But I think our sector three was extremely strong this weekend, it’s where it needed to be.”
Lawson, who was also entangled in a battle with Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli, revealed how after relinquishing a place to the Italian, he rejigged his battery deployment to ensure that he did not cede any further ground during the race.
“To that mistake with Kimi, I made sure that I never ran out of energy again,” he concluded.
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