Untelevised Liam Lawson radio as team orders saga emerges in Austria
Liam Lawson was told that Arvid Lindblad would not attack, but he did
Racing Bulls teammates Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were involved in a tense team orders saga during the Austrian Grand Prix.
In a series of events not picked up by the world feed, Lindblad appeared to go against clear instruction by overtaking Lawson. Having been told by his race engineer that Lindblad would not attack, Lawson was not best pleased to suffer a robust overtake from his rookie teammate, declaring over team radio that it is the “last f***ing time I’m listening.” Lawson expects an internal review.
Liam Lawson and Lindblad Austria team orders saga emerges
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Racing Bulls registered an impressive double points finish at the Red Bull Ring. The road to getting there was not without drama, however.
As Lawson cleared Haas’ Oliver Bearman, Lindblad helped himself to a move down the inside of his teammate at Turn 3. Lindblad got the apex, but Lawson powered back past both Lindblad and Bearman down the following straight.
That pass and re-pass set the scene.
Lindblad’s move was firmly in mind when Lawson, instructed “tyre management, as you were doing at the start of the last stint,” queried in return: “Am I going to be attacked?”
“Negative,” came the reply from race engineer Alexandre Iliopoulos. “Arvid will hold position. We are not fighting.”
It turns out that they were.
Lindblad had indeed been told “hold position” by his race engineer Pierre Hamelin, who stressed to the rookie that “lift-off is critical, lift-off remains critical” to manage brake temperatures in the scorching Red Bull Ring heat.
But, here came Lindblad down the inside at Turn 4. Muscled up to the edge of the gravel, Lawson had been very much attacked by the sister Racing Bulls as Lindblad moved ahead.
“Dude. Alex!” Lawson lamented on the radio.
“Told you what I was told,” came the reply.
“Last f***ing time I’m listening, man,” said a frustrated Lawson.
An undercut later swapped Lawson back ahead of Lindblad.
Lindblad received a fresh hold position instruction, which he followed.
Lawson crossed the line P9, Lindblad P10. Points for both cars after the team orders drama.
Speaking with PlanetF1.com and others after the race, Lawson returned to the saga.
“We had a strategy and executed it in the first stint,” he said.
“And then we were trying to manage, or I was told to manage brakes, and I wouldn’t be attacked, and I was.”
Asked if this was something which required internal discussions at Racing Bulls, Lawson replied: “Probably, I would say, yeah.”
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Lindblad was informed of his teammate’s disgruntlement.
“Okay. In the end, I’m happy with the race,” Lindblad told PlanetF1.com and others.
Later pressed again on Lawson’s reaction, Lindblad pointed out that “we finished P9 and P10, I think it worked out pretty well. There was no threat from behind.”
With Lindblad “ahead for the whole of the second stint,” Lawson’s undercut regained him track position as he drove on to ninth.
The British teenager said: “I kind of saw that coming. I thought they were going to do that.
“But that’s fine. It doesn’t really matter.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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