'I don’t know how I survived it' – Lawson feared race was over in Antonelli incident as he secures P6 in Austria

Liam Lawson was in an ecstatic mood after recording his best-ever F1 finish with sixth in the Austrian Grand Prix, though his race was nearly over before it started on the opening lap.

The Racing Bulls driver came close to being taken out by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli in Turn 3, with the two banging wheels as the Italian locked up and sailed straight on.

While Lawson narrowly avoided a race-ending crash, it was his former Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen instead that took the brunt of the collision, with both he and Antonelli forced to retire from the Grand Prix then and there.

Lawson put that bit of luck to good use as he went on to secure sixth, one of just two drivers to make a one-stop strategy work in Spielberg. With track temperatures passing 50C, making a set of tyres last was tricky – but Lawson was aided by having Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso on his tail.

Alonso was the second driver on a one-stop, and he was able to provide a buffer to some quicker two-stopping cars behind – even if the sight of the Spaniard in his wing mirrors all afternoon did nothing for Lawson’s heart rate.

“I’m a bit lost to be honest, it was a very tough race,” Lawson told Sky Sports F1. "Especially after Lap 1, I don’t know how I survived it to be honest.

“I thought – when I saw Kimi coming I was like, okay, this is over. But somehow, we got out of it. And then the speed was good, we made the one-stop work which was key for us. With the temperatures I wasn’t sure about it, but the team knew, so very, very happy.

“It is always Fernando who is behind, I think he was within DRS for 70 laps today! And you try not to make a mistake. I thought he was quicker, but I just spoke to him and he thought I was quicker, and he was using me to keep DRS!”

Lawson managed to make his hard tyres last 38 laps on Sunday, two longer than Alonso. But his team mate had an even tougher ask – Isack Hadjar made to do a 41-lap stint on his hard tyre.

That was despite the rookie two-stopping, the Frenchman forced into a very early opening stop after running wide twice on the opening lap to avoid contact. He did fight his way back up into the points, only to drop down the order late on.

At first it looked like his tyres had finally run out of life, but later Hadjar confirmed it was floor damage that prevented him scoring in Austria.

“We did a very good race,” Hadjar said. “We were comfortably in the points, and 15 laps towards the end of the race we got floor damage.

“I mean I thought P8 was secure, and then I was losing more than a second per lap. And yeah, that was a tough end to the race.”

The Racing Bulls rookie was told the damage was acquired through Turn 1, “probably the sausage kerb,” and reflected that all in all, it was a “shame.” This was the first time since Lawson returned to the team that he has managed to beat Hadjar on a Sunday, as he recorded just his second top 10 of the season.