When the chequered flag waved at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Racing Bulls celebrated a double points finish, with Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar finishing seventh and eighth respectively.
It was one of the better possible scenarios from a race that wasn’t without drama, the two starting in the top 10 and capitalising to make it a strong weekend for the team in the mid-table battle.
But it came close to being the stuff of nightmares.
The final lap of the race saw New Zealand’s Lawson and Frenchman Hadjar racing each other; Lawson on 51-lap-old tyres managing to keep challengers at bay late in his one-stop race, while Hadjar was hunting places after a two-stop strategy didn’t work out quite how he would have liked.
After getting past Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg – the only other driver on a one-stop strategy – and into eighth, Hadjar was not looking to settle and finish behind Lawson, instead trying to make a move on his teammate as the race neared its end.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, the drivers confirmed there was a bit of contact after Hadjar’s attempt – which Lawson managed to see off – but ultimately everything turned out all right.
“It’s the last lap of the race. As much as it’s the ideal thing to do, there’s no way that we’re not going to race for a position like that. I respect it,” Lawson said.
“We’re lucky that we came out of it, but it’s been a great weekend for the team.”
Hadjar admitted he pushed it “a little too much” in trying to make the move on Lawson stick.
“I overdid it; kind of my mistake but just the strategy on the first couple of laps was not good enough.”
Hadjar was not thrilled with his eighth-placed finish – noting it was a good day for the team “but not for me” – having started fifth on the grid.
Lawson had about as good a drive as he could have in the race, getting everything out of the set of medium tyres equipped on lap 20 of the 71-lap race.
It was a race where strategy seemed like it would come into play. Both Racing Bulls drivers were among the eight drivers starting on soft tyres, with seven drivers on mediums, and five on hards.
Strategies had to be altered almost immediately, however, when Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto went into the wall on lap one, which saw the safety car come out on the track.
A virtual safety car – a system used to slow the drivers down without the safety car needing to be out on track – was then in play when Ferrari’s Chales Leclerc was forced out of the race about seven laps in.
McLaren’s Lando Norris won the race to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship with three events remaining, ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – the latter claiming a podium finish after starting in the pit lane.
Sao Paulo Grand Prix results
- Lando Norris – McLaren
- Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Oscar Piastri – McLaren
- Oliver Bearman – Haas
- Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls
- Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls
- Nico Hulkenberg – Kick Sauber
- Pierre Gasly – Alpine
- Alex Albon – Williams
- Esteban Ocon – Haas
- Carlos Sainz – Williams
- Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
- Franco Colapinto – Alpine
- Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
- Yuki Tsunoda – Red Bull
DNF: Gabriel Bortoleto – Kick Sauber, Sir Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari, Charles Leclerc – Ferrari.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
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