Liam Lawson doesn’t see first Max Verstappen scalp as ‘revenge’

Liam Lawson does not view his rare qualifying scalp over Max Verstappen as “revenge” for losing his Red Bull seat.

The 23-year-old New Zealander was brutally axed by Red Bull after just two races this year, having endured a disastrous opening couple of rounds alongside Verstappen.

Lawson outqualifed his former Red Bull teammate for the first time in 2025 by claiming a superb sixth on the grid at the Austrian Grand Prix, while Verstappen could only manage seventh due to yellow flags ruining his final Q3 run.

But Lawson was quick to reject suggestions that the qualifying victory resembles any kind of revenge after ending up as the fastest Red Bull-affiliated driver on Saturday in Spielberg.

"It's not revenge, I haven't really raced him at all," Lawson told media at the Red Bull Ring, where Crash.net are present.

“It’s a good position. We maximised today, but I don't expect to be racing him tomorrow and some of the guys around us, but some of the guys behind, we will try that.

"It doesn't feel bad. It is a cool feeling. I’m more proud of the team for a lot of hard work recently, especially around my side to make me more comfortable around the car and help things suit me, and today reflected that.”

Isack Hadjar suffers qualifying “nightmare”

Meanwhile, Lawson’s rookie teammate Isack Hajdar experienced a more challenging session as he dropped out of Q2.

The 20-year-old Frenchman will line up for Sunday’s grand prix from 13th on the grid and branded his qualifying as a “nightmare”.

"I don't know, my Q1 lap would have qualified me for Q3, so I don't know how we can go backwards from that,” Hadjar said.

"Tons of understeer in high speed, tyres not ready for Turn 1, just a nightmare. I think we were very consistent on tyre warm-up, we nailed the traffic, so it's deeper than this.

"We're not far off and we have new tyres left at least, so that's a positive. Yesterday we were not in a good position, we turned things around overnight with a lot of changes on the car, and it paid off."