Formula 1: Liam Lawson shows fight in Canada sprint race, goes from last to 11th

However, with hours before qualifying, Lawson was heard telling his race engineer he had picked up damage during the final laps.

At the front of the grid, Mercedes’ George Russell led from lights out to take victory, in a bid to his title hopes from teammate Kimi Antonelli – who finished third.

The two Mercedes cars came wheel to wheel in the middle stages of the race, and even saw team boss Toto Wolff intervene to tell Antonelli to concentrate on driving.

World champion Lando Norris continued his resurgence after a slow start to the season to come home in second, after winning the sprint race in Miami earlier this month.

As a show of how competitive Racing Bulls should be in Canada, Lawson’s teammate Arvid Lindblad came home eighth to claim the final point.

Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix begins at 8am on Sunday.

Having been condemned to starting last, Lawson was upgraded to 17th before lights out, as five drivers made changes to their cars and began from pit lane.

Needing to make up a further nine places over the 23 laps if he was to secure points, Lawson was able to climb to 16th by the end of the first lap, as Audi’s Gabriel Bortleto fell five places down the grid.

Behind the underperforming Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, Lawson’s pace advantage told on lap four as the Kiwi gained another place on the back straight into turn 16, as Lindblad climbed into the points ahead of him.

An engine failure for Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar had Lawson climb to 14th, but sat more than two seconds behind the Audi of Nico Hulkenberg ahead of him.

By lap 10, Lawson had cut that gap to less than one second, and set himself up for a chance to use overtake mode, only for Hulkenberg to keep the place by leaving the track at turn 16 when he was under pressure.

Hulkenberg could only hold on for so long before Lawson finally hunted him down on lap 14, and moved to 13th with his fifth on-track pass.

With eight laps to go, Lawson faced another reunion with Perez in 12th. However, after the Mexican started on the soft tyre compared to Lawson’s mediums, the Racing Bulls had the advantage at the end of the race, Lawson had every advantage he needed to make another overtake.

That cause was aided on lap 20, when Haas’ Esteban Ocon made an error that saw him drop from 11th to 15th, and left Lawson with his sights on 11th.

But up against a driver with close to 300 grands prix of experience, Lawson couldn’t get around Perez, and settled for 12th as the chequered flag was waved.

Canada sprint race result

George Russell – MercedesLando Norris – McLarenKimi Antonelli – MercedesOscar Piastri – McLarenCharles Leclerc – FerrariLewis Hamilton – FerrariMax Verstappen – Red BullArvid Lindblad – Racing BullsFranco Colapinto – AlpineCarlos Sainz – WilliamsLiam Lawson – Racing BullsGabriel Bortoleto – AudiEsteban Ocon – HaasSergio Perez – CadillacNico Hulkenberg – AudiLance Stroll – Aston MartinValtteri Bottas – CadillacOllie Bearman – HaasAlex Albon – WilliamsPierre Gasly – AlpineIsack Hadjar – Red Bull

Did not finish: Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin

Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.