Liam Lawson receives Red Bull verdict after super-sub appearance

Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has praised the efforts of Liam Lawson during his stand-in appearance for the team during the Dutch Grand Prix.

Lawson was called up from Racing Bulls for the Zandvoort weekend after Isack Hadjar was unable to race following breaking his wrist, with Lawson's seat going to reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda.

In the Sprint portion of the weekend, Lawson started and finished in 11th, but improved for the main grand prix to qualify in eighth, just 0.115s slower than Verstappen, who was seventh. 

In the race itself, Lawson was the sole remaining Red Bull after Verstappen's first-lap crash, and finished in seventh place - which was the best possible result for an RB22 machine that was firmly fourth fastest across the weekend. 

Lawson only finished behind the six drivers from McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari to further consolidate himself as the best regular non-top-four driver, as he is ninth in the drivers' standings behind the six drivers who finished ahead, Verstappen, and regular Red Bull driver, Hadjar.

Reflecting on his efforts, and scoring points for Red Bull for the first time, Mekies felt that, given the circumstances, Lawson had performed well. 

"Liam has done a good job stepping into the car," Mekies said.

"It's never easy to step into a different team and different car for a race like that, and he's done a good job.

"He was only one-tenth away from Max in [grand prix] qualifying, and [in the race] took the points that were available to him pace-wise with the seventh place."