Latest news with #LiamLawson
1News
5 hours ago
- Automotive
- 1News
F1: Liam Lawson energised to perform in Austrian GP
Liam Lawson and Racing Bulls are likely to face similar issues they had in Canada a fortnight ago when they take on the Austrian F1 Grand Prix this weekend. Racing Bulls were well out of the points in Montreal and the team will hopefully have fixed any issues in the time since. Racing Bulls admitted they lacked pace to challenge for the top 10 in Canada with team principal Laurent Mekies hoping they could change that in time for Austria after some work back at the team base in Britain. Lawson's cause wasn't helped when he was forced to start from the pit lane after the team made some changes to his power unit. Unfortunately, cooling issues forced him to retire late in the race. He can only hope the car is at its best because Red Bull Ring is a unique circuit where the margins become even finer. ADVERTISEMENT It is one of the shortest and fastest circuits on the calendar with drivers completing a lap in just over a minute. It has just 10 corners, but has three DRS zones allowing for overtaking. The downforce setting becomes critical to balance the speed of the straights and the grip needed on the fast corners. Lawson has raced there in junior categories. "I've really enjoyed the track but, obviously in F1, it will bring an entirely new pressure," Lawson said. "I'm coming into this weekend with fresh energy following Canada and am ready to fight for points with the team." Both Lawson and Isack Hadjar have spent a lot of time in the simulator since Canada, while chief technical officer Tim Goss said they'll "take forward some further setup adjustments to maximise the car's capabilities". ADVERTISEMENT Qualifying will again be the key to picking up points. Lawson has made the third part of qualifying just once this season and that was in Monaco when he went on to grab his only points. Meanwhile, Red Bull have confirmed that British youngster Arvid Lindblad will get his first grand prix weekend outing at the British GP at Silverstone next week. The 17-year-old obtained his FIA Superlicence earlier this month. Lindblad, who won the Formula Regional Oceania Championship in New Zealand last summer and currently races in F2, will be involved during Friday practice at Silverstone. Until now, Ayumu Iwasa has been the only reserve driver for both Red Bull and Racing Bulls.
RNZ News
11 hours ago
- Automotive
- RNZ News
Liam Lawson again battling to make gains in F1
Liam Lawson of New Zealand and Racing Bulls during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 27, 2025 in Spielberg, Austria. Photo: GUENTHER IBY Lando Norris has led Formula 1 leader Oscar Piastri in a McLaren one-two in the second practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, after George Russell went fastest for Mercedes in the opening session. Norris had handed his car to Alex Dunne for an impressive F1 practice debut for the Irish rookie and Formula Two leader, but the Briton was right up to speed as soon as he got back behind the wheel. After Russell's best of one minute 05.542 seconds in the early afternoon, Norris - 22 points behind Piastri in the title battle after 10 of 24 races - lapped in 1:04.580 with Piastri 0.157 slower. Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen, a five-times winner at his team's home circuit, was the only other driver under the five second mark with a 1:04.898. Russell, winner from pole position in Canada two weeks ago after the McLarens collided, was sixth in practice two with Lance Stroll a surprise fourth for Aston Martin and Charles Leclerc fifth for Ferrari. Verstappen was without regular race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase for the weekend due to personal reasons with Simon Rennie taking over. Dunne, given track time as part of team obligations to give rookie drivers F1 experience, was the talk of the first session when he lapped fourth fastest and only 0.069 slower than Piastri. Still only 19 and the first Irish driver in 22 years to take part in a grand prix weekend, he thanked the team over the radio as the chequered flag fell. "A little boy's dream came true, and this is definitely the best day of my life," he said. "Thank you everyone for letting me do this, and thanks to Lando as well for trusting me with his car." New Zealand F1 driver Liam Lawson. Photo: MPS AGENCY / PHOTOSPORT New Zealand's Liam Lawson meantime, posted the 15th fastest time in the first session, and then the 12th fastest time in the second session. Lawson's Racing Bulls boss, teamn principal Laurent Mekies, says Lawson's getting there. "I think we now all agree that jumping into a car mid-season is going to be difficult regardless of where you are on the pit lane and I think we have to give him time to get used to the car. "But what we see is that the speed is there. He may not yet be putting it together when it matters but we are trying everything we can to support him," Mekies said. The final practice session is late tonight New Zealand time, with qualifying to follow early in the morning. The race will be at 1am on Monday. - Reuters
NZ Herald
14 hours ago
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Formula 1: Liam Lawson outpaces Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar in Austrian Grand Prix practice
Liam Lawson wasn't able to start the Austrian Grand Prix weekend with top 10 practice finishes the way he did in Barcelona and Canada, but the Kiwi driver got through a solid day's work at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring. The Racing Bulls driver managed a 15th-place finish in Free Practice
RNZ News
a day ago
- Automotive
- RNZ News
Liam Lawson hoping for a fast car for Austrian F1 GP
New Zealand F1 driver Liam Lawson. Photo: MPS AGENCY / PHOTOSPORT New Zealand driver Liam Lawson expects racing for the mid-field teams to be even closer in this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix. Lawson's Racing Bulls team is currently seventh in the standings with just a few points separating the teams ranked 6th to 9th. The Austrian circuit is one of the shortest in the championship and Lawson said it was hard to tell how they would fare. "Here it is always very close and this year in general it has been extremely close so I expect it to be even more so this weekend just because it is a short lap and it has been that kind of season," he told the media. "Our car has been strong recently, in Barcelona it was fast, we hope it is fast here but honestly it is really really hard to tell." The cars will complete a lap in just over a minute which means qualifying becomes extremely tight. Lawson was then asked if it would be best to set the car up for qualifying or the race. "One of those ones for the engineering team." Meanwhile, present rivalries and past collisions hang over Red Bull's home race as F1 braces for the next round of Max Verstappen versus George Russell. Russell and reigning champion Verstappen finished first and second in Canada two weeks ago, with Red Bull protesting - in vain - the Mercedes win and accusing the Briton of unsportsmanlike behaviour. It is safe to say the pair are not friends and they are building up quite a track record, colliding in Spain this month in an incident that left Verstappen blamed and on the brink of a mandatory race ban. Two of those penalty points expire after Austria but he still has to stay out of trouble through a weekend in the Styrian hills where his orange-shirted fans will be out in numbers. Verstappen and Norris caused a commotion in Spielberg last year when they collided while scrapping for the lead, with Norris chasing. That gifted victory to Russell. Norris will return with the memory of that coming together now overtaken by the one between him and Piastri in Canada that left him 22 points adrift of the Australian after 10 of 24 races. Lando Norris and Max Verstappen battle during the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix. Photo: AFP Formula 1 statistics for the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg, the 11th round of the 24-race championship. Lap distance: 4.318km. Total distance: 306.452km (71 laps) 2024 pole position: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull, One minute 04.314 seconds. 2024 winner: George Russell (Britain) Mercedes Race lap record: Carlos Sainz (Spain) Ferrari 1:05.619, 2020 Start time: 1am Monday NZ time The Red Bull-owned circuit has the shortest lap, in terms of time, on the calendar with only 10 corners but aggressive kerbs. It takes a little over a minute to complete. It also has the second biggest difference between its highest and lowest points (69m), after Spa-Francorchamps. This year will be the 38th Austrian Grand Prix. The first was held at Zeltweg airfield in 1964 and moved to the Oesterreichring (later renamed A1 Ring and now Red Bull Ring) in 1970. There have been 10 winners from pole in 20 races on the current configuration. Most overtakes occur into turns three and four. Turns two, five and eight are taken at full throttle. Verstappen has a record four Austrian wins (2018, 2019, 2021, 2023) and other active winners are Charles Leclerc (2022), Lewis Hamilton (2016) and George Russell (2024). Mercedes are the most successful team in Austria with seven victories. Hamilton and Verstappen also won the two Styrian GPs held at the same circuit during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The last three editions of the race have run as a sprint weekend but this year reverts to its traditional schedule. McLaren's Oscar Piastri leads the drivers' championship by 22 points from teammate Lando Norris. Verstappen is 43 points behind Piastri. Leaders and champions McLaren are 175 points clear of Mercedes, with Ferrari a further 16 adrift. Piastri has won five of 10 races this season, Verstappen and Norris two each and Russell one. Seven-times world champion Hamilton has a record 105 career victories from 366 starts. Verstappen has won 65 grands prix and is third on the all-time list after Schumacher on 91. Piastri has seven career wins to Norris's six and can become the first Australian to win six in a season. Piastri has been on pole four times this season, Verstappen three, Norris twice and Russell once. Norris has started on the front row in five of 10. Both McLaren drivers have finished on the podium eight times in 2025 but Piastri's run of eight in a row ended in Canada two weeks ago. Charles Leclerc's second place in Monaco was Ferrari's best of the season so far. Only Piastri and Verstappen have scored in every race this season, with Norris' run ending after a late collision with his teammate in Canada. Piastri has scored for 36 races in a row. Two rookies have yet to score - Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine's Franco Colapinto. -RNZ/Reuters
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Automotive
- RNZ News
F1: Liam Lawson energised to perform in Austrian GP
New Zealand F1 driver Liam Lawson. Photo: Eric Alonso / PHOTOSPORT Liam Lawson and Racing Bulls are likely to face similar issues they had in Canada a fortnight ago when they take on the Austrian F1 Grand Prix this weekend. Racing Bulls were well out of the points in Montreal and the team will hopefully have fixed any issues in the time since. Racing Bulls admitted they lacked pace to challenge for the top ten in Canada with team principal Laurent Mekies hoping they could change that in time for Austria after some work back at the team base in Britain. Lawson's cause wasn't helped when he was forced to start from the pit lane after the team made some changes to his power unit. Unfortunately, cooling issues forced him to retire late in the race. He can only hope the car is at its best because Red Bull Ring is a unique circuit where the margins become even finer. It is one of the shortest and fastest circuits on the calendar with drivers completing a lap in just over a minute. It has just ten corners, but has three DRS zones allowing for overtaking. The downforce setting becomes critical to balance the speed of the straights and the grip needed on the fast corners. Lawson has raced there a number of times in junior categories. "I've really enjoyed the track, but obviously in F1 it will bring an entirely new pressure," Lawson said. "I'm coming into this weekend with fresh energy following Canada and am ready to fight for points with the team." Both Lawson and Isack Hadjar have spent a lot of time in the simulator since Canada, while chief technical officer Tim Goss said they'll "take forward some further setup adjustments to maximise the car's capabilities". Qualifying will again be the key to picking up points. Lawson has made the third part of qualifying just once this season and that was in Monaco when he went on to grab his only points. Meanwhile, Red Bull have confirmed that British youngster Arvid Lindblad will get his first grand prix weekend outing at the British GP at Silverstone next week. The 17 year old obtained his FIA Superlicence earlier this month. Lindblad, who won the Formula Regional Oceania Championship in New Zealand last summer and currently races in F2, will be involved during Friday practice at Silverstone. Until now Ayumu Iwasa has been the only reserve driver for both Red Bull and Racing Bulls.
