Liam Lawson has explained how he felt “stressed” during the clinical overtaking move by Max Verstappen on Lewis Hamilton in Hungary.
Hamilton successfully triggered the undercut on Verstappen in the opening round of pit-stops, to run a net third, but after exiting the pits, had to pass Lawson’s Racing Bulls machine.
Being tucked up behind Lawson allowed Verstappen to latch onto the back of Hamilton, and after both passed Lawson along the pit-straight, Verstappen divebombed Hamilton into Turn 1, scything past the Ferrari to earn back the net third place.
Lawson had a prime view of the action as he then engaged in his own battles with the Audis and team-mate Arvid Lindblad, eventually going on to score eighth place to end the first half of the season with 43 points and the highest-placed driver not from Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, or Red Bull.
Reflecting, he described how he wanted to “not get in the way.”
“I was just trying not to get in the way and not be too much involved,” Lawson told media, including RacingNews365.
“I was getting lapped, so I didn’t have to let them go, but I didn’t expect [Verstappen] to go by.
“Obviously I saw the late lunge, but it ended up costing me time behind them, which at the time was a bit stressful, but it was a good move.
“We did not plan on two-stopping, so that was a surprise, and I could feel that there was something going on behind because of the communication with [race engineer] Alex [Iliopoulos]
“He was mentioning the Audis, but not saying too much, and then out of nowhere, I was pushed to box, and it was a long stint on the softs at the end, but it was a great call.”