Liam Lawson has credited Racing Bulls with revising his strategy mid-race to help him secure a seventh-place finish in Formula 1‘s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Having qualified in seventh place at Interlagos, Lawson started one position behind his rookie team-mate Isack Hadjar.
Throughout the race, both drivers experienced traffic. Thus, Racing Bulls opted for a change of strategy for Lawson; a one-stop strategy was now on the cards.
While this strategy was less than favourable, it ended up being a saving grace for the Racing Bulls driver, who headed Hadjar home.
“I felt like we had the pace, but the main problem for me personally was being the second car in the queue,” Lawson revealed to media including Motorsport Week
“I was always going to lose out, and we were planning on doing a two-stop. So that was going to be two stops. I honestly lost out because we were so close.”
Lawson also admitted that pitlane traffic and timing meant the more favourable plan would have severely impacted his race, dropping him behind several other cars.
“At the first one, I think I lost a place to [Pierre] Gasly, and then they boxed in front of me, and I would have lost more positions in the second one,” Lawson said.
“We knew we had the speed, but we had to figure out a way to utilise it.
“Doing the one-stop, although it was very, very close and definitely wasn’t the fastest, it gave us track position, and we had enough speed to stay in front.”
Stressful final laps in Interlagos
The strategy paid off for the 23-year-old; however, the final lap had his nerves through the roof.
Lawson was under immense pressure as he had nearly half the field in a DRS train behind him.
In the end, the young driver ended up towing drivers eighth to Fernando Alonso in 14th, who finished just over three seconds behind.
Despite the growing tyre wear and pressure of the final lap, Lawsoon managed to stay composed and bring home yet another points haul for Racing Bulls.
“It was very stressful [leading the huge DRS train],” he admitted.
“I was just trying to keep the lines, trying to manage energy and look after the tyres, which are super sensitive.”
READ MORE – How Racing Bulls narrowly avoided late disaster in F1 Brazil GP
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