Liam Lawson has best finish of his Formula 1 career at Monaco Grand Prix
Monday, 26 May 2025
Liam Lawson secured the best finish of his Formula 1 career to date and earned his first points of the season with a selfless race at the Monaco Grand Prix.
By driving purposefully slow and backing up the cars behind him early in the race, the Kiwi Racing Bulls driver helped his French team-mate Isack Hadjar record the best finish of his own fledgling career.
Lawson came home in eighth – a place ahead of where he started – and earned four points. Hadjar came home in sixth – a place back from where he started – and earned eight points.
The 12 points Racing Bulls’ two rookies won moved them up from eighth to seventh in the constructors’ championship, past Aston Martin.
“It’s not often you have a plan and it executes perfectly and today to have done that is that great,” Lawson said on F1TV afterwards.
Lando Norris won from pole position for McLaren, with Charles Leclerc second for Ferrari at his home grand prix and the other McLaren driver Oscar Piastri third, holding on to the drivers’ championship lead by three points.
Lawson’s points were the first drivers’ championship points he has earned for 11 races, since the São Paulo Grand Prix last year, where he finished ninth.
Until Sunday that was his equal-best finish in a Formula 1 Grand Prix. He had also come ninth at the United States Grand Prix earlier that year and at the Singapore Grand Prix in 2023.
Hadjar came eighth at the Japanese Grand Prix earlier this year, 10th at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and ninth at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy last weekend.
He now has 15 points this season to Lawson’s four. Yuki Tsunoda earned three points for Racing Bulls in the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix before being promoted to Red Bull, with Lawson moving in the other direction.
That driver swap was the low point of Lawson’s season and he will be relieved to now finally be on the board when it comes to scoring points, even if it has taken him six races since returning to the energy drink company’s junior team.
Last weekend, after he finished 14th in Imola, his race engineer Ernesto Desiderio tried to foster a sense of optimism, telling him: “It can’t rain forever”.
This weekend his message at the end of the race was far more cheerful: “That’s the chequered (flag) mate, that’s the chequered (flag). P8! Come on!
“That was a brilliant drive. Great weekend. Kudos for the teamwork as well. It was a great team effort. Both cars in the points
“Welcome back in the points man. Good job.”
While the Monaco Grand Prix is an iconic stop on the Formula 1 calendar, consisting of 78 laps of the famous 3.337km-long Circuit de Monaco, on the streets above a marina filled with super yachts, it has often produced uneventful races in recent years.
This year drivers were required to make at least two pit stops – one more than normal – in an effort to promote different strategies and a better spectacle on a narrow street circuit where passing opportunities on track are few and far between.
After the lights went out at the start, it quickly became clear Lawson was driving slower than those in front of him in an effort to open a window for Hadjar to pit into, creating a train of drivers in close company right behind him.
After Hadjar completed both his mandatory pit stops by the end of lap 20, Lawson pitted for the first time on lap 32, with Desiderio praising him for a “very good job”.
Lawson moved up from ninth to eighth on lap 38 when Aston Martin veteran Fernando Alonso was forced out with a power unit issue, while running a place ahead of Hadjar.
That retirement meant Alonso remained one of the three drivers on the grid without points this season, alongside Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber and Franco Colapinto of Alpine.
Lawson has now bid farewell to that group after eight of 2025’s 24 grands prix.
After a short stint on soft tyres, the Kiwi pitted again on lap 42. Williams driver Alex Albon pitted from right behind him, rather than trying to undercut him, locking in their finishing order.
With Hadjar and Lawson set to give Racing Bulls two drivers in the points, Sky Sports UK commentator Ted Kravitz was full of praise for their teamwork.
“They’ve just played a blinder,” he said on the broadcast – a sentiment that was echoed by commentator Martin Brundle.
It was just the second time Racing Bulls had had a double points finish in the past four seasons and their best points haul since the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Racing back then as Scuderia AlphaTauri, they earned 22 points when Tsunoda came fourth and Pierre Gasly came fifth.
Lawson and Tsunoda earned eight points at the São Paulo Grand Prix last year when they finished ninth and seventh respectively.
The Formula 1 season continues with the ninth grand prix of the year next weekend in Spain.
Monaco Grand Prix – top 10
1: Lando Norris; 2: Charles Leclerc; 3: Oscar Piastri
4: Max Verstappen; 5: Lewis Hamilton; 6: Isack Hadjar; 7: Esteban Ocon; 8: Liam Lawson; 9: Alex Albon; 10: Carlos Sainz