Liam Lawson records F1 career first in Red Bull upset performance

Liam Lawson delivered Racing Bulls an upset result by beating Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

It was only the second time since the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix that Verstappen finished outside the top six places on the road, crossing the line ninth at the Hungaroring with Lawson one place ahead.

Liam Lawson admits surprise at beating Verstappen in Hungary

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

It was the first time in Lawson’s Formula 1 career that he has finished ahead of the reigning World Champion when both cars have finished a race, having been team-mates for two races at the start of the year.

Finishing ahead of the ‘senior’ Red Bull in the sister team’s car, motorsport advisor Helmut Marko admitted the Milton Keynes operation was suffering a tyre-related issue all weekend at the Hungaroring.

For Lawson, it marked a third points finish in the four races leading up to the summer break, highlighting a marked improvement in form compared to earlier in the season.

While the New Zealander remains aware he needs to continue to deliver over the second half of the season, he was happy with his day’s work in Hungary.

Asked if he was surprised at finishing ahead of Verstappen, Lawson replied to media including PlanetF1.com: “A little bit, because at the start, he was very fast.

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“I also saw [during] the first stint of the race, he was very quick at the start. He got me on the first lap, and then I think they struggled more on tyres, so I was kind of hoping it would be the same [later on].

“I knew if I kept him there [behind me] for a few laps, maybe he would start to drop, and I think that’s more or less what happened.

“It’s been a very tough year. I think it’s hard to string together a series of good results in F1, and recently it’s been good for us but, obviously, we have another whole second half to go, and we need to learn from what’s working right now and try and take that forward.”

Having come to the summer break off the back of his best run of results in 2025, Lawson has reduced the gap to Isack Hadjar in the Drivers’ standings to two points.

Even though he has returned to the points in recent races, Lawson credits only minor tweaks behind the scenes to make the most of  his Racing Bulls machinery.

“To be honest, nothing huge has changed other than some small things in the car, and small things to me that have helped get me comfortable in the car,” he said.

“I think that’s been really since Austria that I’ve felt that comfortable in the car, but the speed has always been there since the start of the season, since we did the switch.

“We just had a lot of small things through that first part of the year and the consistency wasn’t there, and now it is, but also it’s very tough to keep that, so we need to try and focus on keeping that.”

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