Regardless, the result sees Lawson complete a positive turnaround, after being dogged by a hydraulic leak that on the weekend’s opening day, and robbed him of the chance to qualify for the sprint race.
The shorter race saw Lawson move from 17th to 11th, and make up more places than any other driver, before missing out on a top 10 start in the grand prix by just 0.040s.
What’s more, the Kiwi was also excellent in holding off a charge of more than 30 laps on the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, who had a tyre advantage, and attempted several late overtakes.
Seventh sees Lawson match his best finish of the season, so far, achieved in both the sprint and grand prix in China.
“We didn’t really have that much speed during the race, especially compared to quali,” Lawson said afterwards. “We definitely have to review it.
“But we survived, and brought the car home in seventh, which was great.”
At the front of the grid, championship leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes added another 25 points to his push for a maiden title. Already the youngest driver to lead the world championship, Antonelli’s win – his fourth in a row – pushes him further clear of teammate George Russell.
Russell had started on pole, after also winning the sprint on Sunday, but was forced to retire when leading the race with a power unit failure that cost him a full set of points for the weekend.
Antonelli now leads the drivers championship with 131 points, 43 clear of Russell.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton secured his best grand prix result of the season so far to take second, as did Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take third.
Hamilton, then, moves from fifth to fourth in the standings, while Lawson remains 10th, two back from Haas’ Ollie Bearman in ninth.
Formula One will return in the second week of June for the Monaco Grand Prix.
Starting outside the points, Lawson’s prospects were boosted before the lights went out as a gearbox issue left Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad stationary, and meant two additional formation laps.
When the race did start, with a reduced distance, Lawson had no issue in sweeping past Hulkenberg to climb to 11th. And by the time both McLarens were forced into the pits on the opening laps – having both started on intermediate tyres before changing to slicks – Lawson had climbed to eighth.
With more than two seconds to Alpine’s Franco Colapinto in eighth, Lawson was able to build a gap of his own to ninth place. The real threat behind, though, was the McLaren of Lando Norris, who climbed from 14th into the top 10 after his early pit stop.
On lap 13, Williams’ Alex Albon lost control of his car, and was hit by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to suffer terminal damage, and triggered a yellow flag that temporarily halted Norris’ attack on Lawson.
Three laps later, though, Norris was forced to pit again with a reliability issue, which gave Lawson some breathing room and a gap of more than eight seconds to the car behind him, Gasly, in ninth.
On lap 30, Lawson moved up to seventh when Russell was forced out by a power unit failure, and stopped on track to trigger a virtual safety car, and headed for the pits as a result.
Liam Lawson at the Canadian Grand Prix. Photo / Red Bull
By the time the virtual safety car ended on lap 34, Lawson was 11 seconds behind Colapinto, and three clear of Gasly, as Norris continued to fight from outside the top 10 – only to retire on lap 40 with the Racing Bulls in his sights.
With 20 laps to go, Gasly had cut that gap to less than two seconds, as his hard tyres gave him an advantage over the Kiwi on old softs.
Another virtual safety car on lap 53, triggered by Charles Leclerc losing control of his car on the front straight, bought Lawson some time. But as the laps wore on, Lawson defended superbly to keep hold of seventh, as Gasly’s late divebombs into turn 16 weren’t enough to get around the Kiwi.
Canadian Grand Prix finishing order
Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari Max Verstappen – Red Bull Charles Leclerc – Ferrari Isack Hadjar – Red Bull Franco Colapinto – Alpine Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls Pierre Gasly – Alpine Carlos Sainz – Williams Ollie Bearman – HaasOscar Piastri – McLaren Nico Hulkenberg – Audi Gabriel Bortoleto – AudiEsteban Ocon – Haas Lance Stroll – Aston Martin Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac
Did not finish: Sergio Perez – Cadillac, Lando Norris – McLaren, George Russell – Mercedes, Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin, Alex Albon – Williams, Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.