In a grand prix that had Max Verstappen retake control of the world championship, taking the chequered flag having started 17th on the grid, Lawson continued to impress as he aims to show Red Bull why he deserves a place in the senior team in 2025.
Verstappen ended a wait that dates back to June since his last win and added 26 points to his championship standings, on a weekend when Lando Norris of McLaren finished sixth.
However, despite Red Bull’s success, Alpine were the real winners on the day, as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly took second and third respectively, and netted enough points to jump from ninth to sixth in the constructors championship.
Verstappen’s victory takes his championship tally to 393 points, 62 clear of Norris, with just three grands prix and one sprint race to come this season.
McLaren remain first in the constructors championship with 593 points, as Ferrari (557) separate Red Bull (544) from top spot.
Lawson, meanwhile, remains 20th with four points, but the gap to 19th is now just a point on Franco Colapinto of Williams (five points).
Because qualifying was delayed from Sunday to hours before the grand prix, Lawson made the most of dire conditions to start in a career-high fifth place. The result would have marked RB’s best qualifying position, were it not for teammate Tsunoda taking third.
The RB duo highlighted a poor session for Red Bull after Verstappen (17th) and Perez (13th) failed to reach the third and final qualifying session after a red flag stopped the pair completing their laps, caused by Lance Stroll crashing.
That wouldn’t be the last inconvenience caused by Stroll either, after the Aston Martin driver spun on the formation lap to delay the start by 10 minutes and reduced the grand prix to 69 laps as a result.
In treacherous conditions, Lawson lost a place on the opening corner and dropped to sixth, which was largely mitigated by Red Bull rival Perez spinning and dropping to 18th.
Verstappen meanwhile rose from 17th to 10th on his first lap, in his attempt to hunt down Norris in the race for the world championship, even as Russell took the lead.
Liam Lawson in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Photo / Getty Images
With no DRS (drag reduction system) available due to the wet conditions, any overtaking had to be achieved through ability and strategy rather than by having a faster car.
Conditions only continued to deteriorate with water on track, as the 18 drivers on track waited to see who would blink and head to the pits first.
But those conditions got the better of Lawson, who came off the track and fell from sixth to ninth when he was hit by Piastri, while Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg did the same to trigger a yellow flag and a virtual safety car.
On lap 29, Lawson and Tsunoda headed for the pits and swapped intermediates for full wets, before a safety car was triggered by the wet weather, with the Kiwi in 10th after he overtook Sir Lewis Hamilton.
That safety car wasn’t enough to save Williams’ Colapinto, though, who crashed and triggered a red flag on lap 32 and brought the race to a halt, with Ocon as the surprise leader, having not pitted before the stoppage.
In the meantime, as the drivers waited to resume, Hulkenberg was hit by a black flag and disqualified from the race after he received help from officials to get his car back on track under the red flag.
Mercedes had both drivers under investigation after tyre pressure was adjusted while already on Hamilton and Russell’s cars.
Once racing resumed after a delay of almost 30 minutes, Lawson lost a place on cold tyres and fell to 11th as drivers struggled to restart.
Falling to 11th had Lawson sandwiched between Perez in 12th and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in 10th – two drivers he’s clashed with over the past two grands prix.
Conditions accounted for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz as another safety car was needed on lap 40 and drivers began to think about what tyres they would need to finish the race.
When the safety car ended on lap 42, Verstappen overtook Ocon for the lead. Lawson got around Hamilton and Alonso to move from 11th to ninth and back into the points to trail his teammate in eighth.
With 20 laps remaining, Lawson’s objective simplified to staying ahead of Perez, one place back in 10th, as the threat of more rain loomed overhead.
As he did in Mexico a week previous, Perez went for a divebomb on the Kiwi on laps 54 and 55, only for Lawson to hold his place – twice. And having taken the risk, Perez was then passed by Hamilton for 10th.
Given the nature of the Interlagos circuit, Hamilton’s only real chance for overtaking came in sector one, with two straights that are usually DRS zones into turn two and turn four.
While the wet weather had played havoc with the whole race, it also played saviour to Lawson because Hamilton had no advantage for being in a faster car and the Kiwi held on to equal his career-best finish for a third time.
The 22-year-old also finished ninth at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, and did the same at the US Grand Prix at Austin last month.
Formula One will now have a three-week break before returning for the Las Vegas Grand Prix at the end of November.
Alex Powell is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.
