{"id":599577,"date":"2026-09-14T00:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T00:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/599577\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T00:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T00:42:14","slug":"formula-1-liam-lawson-sixth-for-red-bull-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/599577\/","title":{"rendered":"Formula 1: Liam Lawson sixth for Red Bull in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kiwi Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson<\/a> has placed sixth at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid overnight.<\/p>\n

After starting eighth<\/a>, the 24-year-old finished sixth at the new Madring circuit in Madrid \u2013 the same position he came home in at the British Grand Prix earlier this year.<\/p>\n

It marked Lawson’s highest finish for Red Bull.<\/a><\/p>\n

“From where we started, it was an okay race,” Lawson said. ” It was just super hard to overtake.” <\/p>\n

“We went for an alternate strategy on the hard [tire], but I think the VSC (virtual safety car) didn’t help. I was honestly on my own a little bit.<\/p>\n

“I think it would’ve been nice to qualify higher, but from where we started it was an okay race.” <\/p>\n

Lawson secured eight points for the sixth place finish and current sits ninth in the World Drivers Standings on 59 points \u2014 12 points behind Isack Hadjar on 71. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Italian Kimi Antonelli took advantage of an unlucky break for Lando Norris to win the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, increasing his lead in the drivers’ standings.<\/p>\n

It was the second consecutive victory for Antonelli, the young Mercedes driver who had come-from-behind to win his home race at the Italian GP last weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cLucky for the virtual safety car, feel a bit bad for Lando,\u201d Antonelli said on the radio after the race. \u201cReally strong race, strong weekend, let\u2019s keep pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonelli was second early on at the Madring track in the Spanish capital, but pole-sitter Norris relinquished his lead after he wasn’t able to pit when a virtual safety car was deployed. <\/p>\n

He had already passed the pit entrance and had to pit on the next lap in a questionable strategy call by McLaren that dropped him a few positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to win, but it doesn\u2019t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved to win,” Antonelli said. \u201cBut overall, you know, we\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norris ended third, behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. He said he was \u201cinsanely unlucky\u201d with the safety car.<\/p>\n

\"Mercedes<\/p>\n

Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy celebrates after winning the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix race in Madrid. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the only once who didn\u2019t get a chance to do the pit stop there. Of course I feel like I deserved more,” Norris said. \u201cThere was nothing I could do. Congrats to Kimi and Max, they drove a good race today. Just luck not on our side. Rough race, one that just got away from us.”<\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc, who led most of the race after opting not to pit when the virtual safety car was deployed, ended fourth after having to change tires late.<\/p>\n

Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton saw his race last only seven laps after he reported a problem with his brakes and retired. The seven-time world champion had also struggled last weekend in the Italian GP, when he finished sixth following an early dust-up with Leclerc.<\/p>\n

The Spanish GP returned to the Madrid region for the first time in 45 years. It last took place at the Jarama circuit in the capital\u2019s outskirts in 1981.<\/p>\n

It was the eighth race win this season for Antonelli, who now leads teammate George Russell by 81 points with nine races remaining. Russell finished fifth Sunday.<\/p>\n

The start of the race gained importance with the new track yielding few overtake opportunities, and Antonelli was able to challenge Norris into the first turn. He got past the McLaren driver after cutting the corner to avoid a collision but had to give the position back.<\/p>\n

Verstappen also had to give back the position to Lewis Hamilton after gaining advantage while going off the track shortly after the start.<\/p>\n

\"McLaren<\/p>\n

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain, right, leads the field after the start of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix race in Madrid. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Virtual safety car changes fortunes<\/p>\n

The race changed on Lap 15 when the virtual safety car was deployed after the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll stopped on the track with a brake problem.<\/p>\n

Norris missed the opportunity to pit under the safety car and Antonelli took advantage to stop and come out in front of the McLaren. Leclerc stayed out and moved to first place on a different strategy.<\/p>\n

Norris ended pitting a lap later, when the virtual safety had ended, so he lost more time and returned to the track in fifth position. He also lost time because his stop was slower than usual because of a problem with the right-front wheel.<\/p>\n

With the hard tires holding on well, the front-running drivers did not have to pit again and Leclerc had to come in late for his required stop, relinquishing the lead.<\/p>\n

Spaniards squabble early<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a coroner slams our drinking culture, Trump brushes off AI concerns, and Celine is back. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

The home grand prix was one to forget for the local drivers.<\/p>\n

The only two Spaniards on the grid, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, started on the back and touched each other early in the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe squeezed me into the wall,\u201d Alonso said. \u201c(At) the start, he crashed into two people, now he squeezed me into the wall on breaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sainz had also collided with other drivers after an aggressive start at his home race. He received a five-second penalty for the incident with Alonso, and eventually retired with a car issue.<\/p>\n

Spanish King Felipe VI was among those on hand for the race in the Spanish capital.<\/p>\n

Organisers expected a total attendance of nearly 350,000 spectators throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n

Protests ahead of the race<\/p>\n

Hours before the start, a few hundred residents from neighbourhoods in northern Madrid protested against the return of the race.<\/p>\n

Many of them were clad in bright yellow T-shirts and carried signs reading \u201cStop Formula 1 in Madrid.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was plenty of support for the event locally, but some residents complained about the noise generated by the cars, the road closures and the environmental effects of the race, which is contracted to take place in the Spanish capital for 10 years.<\/p>\n

Formula 1 now heads to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix next week. <\/p>\n

– Additional reporting by 1News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kiwi Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson has placed sixth at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid overnight. After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":["post-599577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}