Photo: Malcolm Griffiths / LAT Images
Red Bull junior Liam Lawson has been awarded fifth in the FIA Formula 3 sprint race at Paul Ricard after his five second penalty was quashed.
Lawson was handed the penalty for causing a collision with ART Grand Prix’s David Beckmann early in the race. The pair were battling for sixth when Beckmann made contact with Lawson, suffering a puncture that took him out of the race.
MP Motorsport driver Lawson finished fifth on track, but dropped back to sixth on the corrected timings.
?Following the race, stewards were presented with new information and the decision [to hand Lawson a penalty] has been reversed,? a statement on the FIA F3 website read.
?The five second time penalty that Lawson received during the race will be removed, which means that his finishing position will now be fifth, ahead of Marcus Armstrong.
?It was found that Lawson?s position on track was not actually behind Beckmann, but alongside him. Beckmann made a slight move to the right and by doing so he damaged his own tyre on the front wing of Lawson?s MP Motorsport car.?
The result is Lawson?s best finish of the season after four races and puts him 13th in the?championship standings.
This year the New Zealander is also competing in Euroformula Open, where he is second in the standings with Motopark, but will miss two rounds due to clashing FIA F3 events.