Lawson misses points; Cassidy wins ePrix
- NZ Sports Wire
- Jun 2
- 2 min read
New Zealand driver Liam Lawson has missed claim points in a second straight Formula 1 grand prix by one spot.
Lawson finished 11th at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday (Monday NZ Time), with his Racing Bulls team's decision not to pit for new tyres under a late safety car inevitably costing him a spot on the track.
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The 23-year-old, who clashed with Williams' Alex Albon and Haas' Ollie Bearman during the race but was not penalised, was ambushed by Fernando Alonso on fresher tyres in the closing laps.
"From our side, it was a very strong race. We just ended up in the wrong position," Lawson said post-race.
"We missed the safety car line by half-a-second, probably. Everyone in front of us boxed and we just got screwed.
"To have it that close after all the work we did in the race, just sucks. At the end of the day, we're here to secure points. It's just frustrating."
Lawson again finished behind his teammate Izack Hadjar, who finished an impressive sixth, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen was credited with 10th after a 10-second penalty for a late collision with Mercedes' George Russell.
Yuki Tsunoda, who replaced Lawson at Red Bull earlier in the season, crossed 13th.
The next Formula 1 race is in two weeks, the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
Fellow New Zealand motorsport star Nick Cassidy ended a 17-race Formula E winless drought with victory at the Shanghai ePrix.
Cassidy won the second race of the weekend on Sunday, standing on the top step of the podium for the first time since the first race at the Berlin ePrix more than a year ago.
Cassidy rose to seventh in the championship standings with his fifth top-10 result in 10 races during the 2024-25 season. The other New Zealander in the field, Jaguar TCS teammate Mitch Evans, finished 14th, his best result since winning the season-opening race in Sao Paulo in December.
Meanwhile, at IndyCars' Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday (Monday NZT), Marcus Armstrong was the best finisher of the three New Zealanders on the grid.
Armstrong, who started ninth, finished sixth, ahead of Kiwi veterans Scott Dixon, in 11th, and Scott McLaughlin, in 12th, in a race on the streets of Detroit won by Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood.
It was the third race out of seven this season that the second-year driver has finished ahead of Dixon and McLaughlin.
Dixon has slipped to seventh in the IndyCar championship, 138 points behind Chip Ganassi teammate and leader Alex Palou, while McLaughlin sits eighth and Armstrong 11th, up three places.
