Liam Lawson has described his surprise at being able to attack McLaren's Oscar Piastri on the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix - after passing major rival Pierre Gasly.
Racing Bulls driver Lawson lined up eighth on the Marina Bay grid, with Alpine's Gasly in seventh, with the two teams battling over fifth in the constructors', although Lawson's team have pulled clear in recent races, and held a 26-point lead heading into the race.
Gasly started on the unfancied medium tyres from the 'clean' side of the grid, with Lawson opting for the softs from the 'dirty side' and was able to muscle past the Frenchman through the Turns 1,2,3 sequence to run seventh.
On the exit of Turn 3, Lawson then duelled with Piastri in the McLaren, before the Australian stayed ahead of the New Zealander, with the top six then pulling away from Lawson.
Lawson ultimately took seventh place, and best of the rest behind six cars from Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren to score six points, to go with the four he scored in the Sprint race.
This has allowed Racing Bulls to reach 100 points in the constructors' standings, and it is now 32 points clear of Alpine, with Lawson reaching 75 points in the drivers' standings.
Reflecting, Lawson described how his first target in the race was to pass Gasly - before the McLaren surprise.
"I'm satisfied, I mean the target really was to get him off the line, and we were able to do that," Lawson told media, including RacingNews365.
"When we attacked Turn 1, he went off, and I squeezed him really well there, and starting on the soft, I had so much grip; I was attacking the McLaren.
"I didn't really want to be, and I just wanted them to pull away.
"But in the first part of the race, everybody was bunching up, but the car has been very strong this weekend in all conditions, and we are very, very happy.
"I feel great. It has been a good year overall, and we've been strong for a lot of the year, and this triple-header, it's been coming back to the team.
"We've been strong everywhere, and we should have scored points in all three races; obviously, in Baku we should have scored.
"But I think the performances that we have shown, regardless of what happens and through these last weekends, have been strong."
Most read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!