"We can fight" says Liam Lawson after victory in FIA F3 opener

Red Bull Junior driver Liam Lawson has celebrated his maiden FIA Formula 3 victory in Race 2 at the season opener in Austria.

Liam Lawson celebrates taking out Race 2 of the FIA Formula 3 Championship. (Image: Supplied/Dutch Photo Agency)

Lawson was critical of his qualifying performance, saying “we need to work on Quali because that is one thing we struggled with this weekend, and it put us on the back foot.”

“If we can sort that, I think we have strong pace and we can fight for some more podiums.”

Lawson qualified in P12 during the packed session, but worked his way up to sixth position in Saturday’s Race 1.

The results gave him a fifth-place start for Sunday’s Race 2, which he was able to convert to his inaugural victory.

“It was a good race,” said the New Zealander. “Starting from P5 I had to get through to the front as quickly as I could, because I knew we had a strong car at the start, but once I got there I ran out of tyres, and Richard [Verschoor] was coming.”

“I think that I actually got lucky with the safety car because without it, I think it would have been tough to keep him behind with DRS.”

The victory and sixth place put the 18 year-old into second place in the championship.

Lawson dedicated his first win to the memory of the late John Fairhall, a Christchurch businessman who was instrumental in getting the young Kiwi over to race in Europe, and into FIA Formula 3.

“I was racing in Austria and Hungary last year when John passed away so it’s almost a year on since then.”

“To take a first win so close to that anniversary is a nice reminder of what he started.” he said.

The FIA Formula 3 Championship will return at the Styrian Grand Prix, 11-12 July.