Liam Lawson reflects on a wet-to-dry Sao Paulo run that turned P8 into P7

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Liam Lawson said the Sao Paulo Grand Prix was one of the strangest races he has driven in a while, describing a weekend that featured strong qualifying, a dramatic wet-to-dry race, and a late penalty that ultimately secured him P7. The Racing Bulls driver, who does not yet have a confirmed seat for next season, finished seventh after starting from the second row at Interlagos.

Lawson’s weekend took shape with a P5 in Saturday’s qualifying, putting him in a strong position for the race. Although he would have preferred a higher finish than P7, the result was shaped by how difficult it became to defend the midfield and by race conditions that varied at both the start and at the end as the track changed grip.

On the race’s opening lap, Lawson benefited from the chaos at the front. He said he had a “really good start” and that the first-lap grip helped him gain a position. He also highlighted a moment nobody could reasonably have expected beforehand, with a Racing Bulls car passing Lando Norris on lap one to run second.

From there, Lawson moved into second behind only Kimi Antonelli. But as the intermediates aged and pace stabilised, he said the gap to the lead teams narrowed in the opposite direction. He described intermediates that were soon “past their best,” after which he dropped back behind Norris, Isack Hadjar, George Russell and Max Verstappen.

Lawson put some of the performance swing down to tyre behaviour rather than solely outright speed. He said there was “a bit of graining,” and explained the dilemma: deciding whether to push hard through the graining or manage the tyre to slow the degradation. In his view, the graining became evident very early, and once it set in, it meant he and the team could not realistically hold station with the cars ahead.

As the race progressed, Lawson saw positions change again when the surface moved to slick tyres. He lost places to Oscar Piastri and a recovering George Russell, leaving him with hope of staying close to the tail end of the top-seven battle when rain returned in the closing stages. Lawson said he still believed he could hang on to P7 on the road, but that a late overtake involved contact.

“The end, I tried to keep Charles there,” Lawson said. He added that there was contact in Turn 12 and that he lost the place as a result. He said he believed his tyre may have been struck by Leclerc’s wing, and while he initially feared he could have suffered a puncture, he said the outcome was “luck” given there was no puncture.

Lawson also connected the moment to an earlier racing incident, joking that it resembled Leclerc’s type of move. He said he will review the incident with the team and Steward decisions, while framing the overall scrap as a “good battle.”

The stewards later decided the move was not legal and issued a penalty to Leclerc. That sanction promoted Lawson from P8 at the flag back to P7, matching the driver’s hopes of a points return after the end-of-race tussle.

Reflecting on the points impact, Lawson said he felt the team had “maximised” what it could from the day. He acknowledged that the margin of performance over the surrounding midfield matters, and said Racing Bulls is still “topping the midfield” as a team target every weekend. He also noted that extending points for Racing Bulls maintained a healthy advantage over Alpine in the battle for P5.

Lawson said he is not taking the gap for granted, pointing to past experiences in similar midfield battles and arguing that teams can still close if results fall at the wrong time. He said Racing Bulls has been in a strong position because the car is “very, very strong,” and he expects to keep pushing toward the season end.

Looking ahead to the next race on the calendar, Lawson discussed Las Vegas. He said he expects Alpine to be particularly competitive there, citing their straight-line speed, and indicated Racing Bulls will need to adapt to the track-specific demands to match that pace.

Alongside the on-track work, Lawson is also awaiting more clarity about the 2027 Racing Bulls line-up. He noted that Nikola Tsolov is waiting in the wings and that a decision has been promised soon by team boss Alan Permane. Lawson said he appreciates the support he has received in recent weeks but that, with the seat situation unresolved, his focus is on driving and working with the team in the remaining races of the season.