Lawson features again on F2 podium

New Zealand driver Liam Lawson feels he has some late momentum as he capped a memorable weekend in Belgium with a third place in the Formula 2 feature race.

Having had his first official Formula 1 practice involvement with Alphatauri at Spa-francorchamps and backing that up with an impressive F2 sprint win, the 20-year-old Kiwi claimed third in the feature race yesterday.

The haul of 26 points lifted Lawson from eight to fifth on the F2 championship table with six races and three meetings left.

It’s all a little too late in terms of any

F2 title hopes, but Lawson will have impressed people in higher places on this feature weekend for him.

‘‘I’d like to definitely carry this forwards,’’ Lawson said of his momentum.

‘‘I said before the weekend that the championship is out of reach for us so I’m just trying to have some great races and have highlights to finish off the year.

‘‘This weekend was good, I plan on trying to do the same for the rest of the season.’’

Lawson made a decent start in the feature race but was dogged by a slow pit stop that ultimately made his podium effort rewarding in a race won by Australian Jack Doohan with series leader Felipe Drugovich second.

Lawson had a fierce battle with Enzo Fittipaldi that was one of the features of the race.

‘‘We touched a couple of times. He’s very aggressive and tried the same move I think four times at turn five and every single time the same thing happened,’’ Lawson said.

‘‘He would come back on after overtaking off the track and stay ahead of me for at times, half a lap. I had the same with [David] Beckmann and it cost us a lot of time.’’

Marcus Armstrong, New Zealand’s other driver in the F2 championship, finished 13th. He sits 11th in the standings.

The championship continues this weekend at Zandvoort in the Netherlands.