More Formula One points for Liam Lawson at Japanese GP

Liam Lawson has backed-up his impressive weekend in China with more points in Japan.

The Racing Bulls driver struggled in qualifying and started the race in 14th place.

But a good start saw Lawson instantly gain two places, moving up to 12th.

The Kiwi then had a stroke of luck when Haas driver Oliver Bearman suffered a high-speed crash on lap 22, incurring a 50G impact and suffered a right knee contusion.

Lawson had yet to pit at that stage and he was able to do so behind a safety car without losing a place, having found himself in ninth.

The 24 year-old was able to maintain the position for the remaining 31 laps and finished a place ahead of team-mate Arvid Lindblad, after the rookie had started four places ahead of him on the grid

“I mean, from where we started, the doubts we had with the balance we ended qualifying yesterday, I think we’ve done a pretty good job to rebalance the car and have a strong race.” Lawson said.

“It was definitely difficult and we got very lucky with the safety car today so, obviously a good result, we’ll take the points and try and improve things going forward.”

Despite picking up two points, Lawson drops one place in the overall standings after three rounds, to 10th, having been passed by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who finished in second place.

It’s another good result for Lawson who claimed eight points in China in both the feature and sprint races.

19 year-old Kimi Antonelli sealed his second victory in a row to lead the drivers championship, nine points clear of Mercedes teammate George Russell.

There’s now a month-long break until the next race in Miami after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races were cancelled due to the conflict in the Middle East.