Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane doesn’t hesitate when asked about Liam Lawson’s ceiling. He leans forward, figuratively and literally, and says what many inside the Red Bull ecosystem have long believed but few have said quite so plainly: the raw materials are special – they just need shaping.
So far, Lawson’s journey in F1 has been anything but linear. A surprise debut, shuffled roles, a confidence hit, and a slow rebuild all played out largely under the radar.
But while headlines focused elsewhere, Racing Bulls saw something forming. And Permane is convinced the breakthrough is only just beginning.
“I really see some genius in there,” Permane told PlanetF1.com, offering a rare, glowing endorsement of the driver who secured his future against all odds.
A Talent Hidden in the Turbulence
Lawson’s early F1 experience did him few favours. Thrown into the deep end, then bounced between environments, the New Zealander never had the luxury of momentum.
His 2025 season, in particular, began under difficult circumstances – time spent adapting to a demanding Red Bull car with a narrow operating window, followed by an abrupt switch back to Racing Bulls machinery after the Chinese Grand Prix.
What followed was a quiet grind. Back at the team where he first raced in F1, Lawson had familiarity, but not continuity. New engineers. New processes. Little time to reset. Meanwhile, across the garage, rookie Isack Hadjar was lighting up timing screens and stealing the spotlight.
But Permane saw something different. He saw flashes – moments when Lawson was operating at a level that demanded explanation.
“I think it’s down to all of us, himself included, to try and figure out, when it goes very, very well, and it does go very, very well a lot of times – you have exceptional races in Austria, in Budapest, that qualifying and race in Baku – just what’s clicking then? And let’s do that across the whole season,” the Briton explained.
The Turning Point
That answer, it turns out, was found not in motivation speeches or confidence tricks, but in detail. Painstaking, technical detail.
“I think it’s more than that,” Permane explained. “He and his race engineer spent a long time in the simulator, playing with front suspension geometries and steering geometries.
“There were bits he wasn’t happy with, and bits he wasn’t super comfortable with the car.
“They found something which we actually had on the car in Monaco, and he had a good weekend in Monaco, very decent weekend.
“But then we carried it over to Austria, and he was super happy with the car there.”
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Austria proved pivotal. Lawson beat his teammate for the first time that season, finishing sixth – a result that didn’t scream revolution, but quietly changed everything.
“That was a turning point,” Permane acknowledged. “It was something that we did to the car, but at his direction, so he led that, or he and his race engineer led that.
“It made him much more comfortable with the car.”
From there, the trajectory shifted. Eighth in Belgium. Eighth again in Hungary. Then fifth in Azerbaijan. Even a DNF at Silverstone didn’t stall the progress. Confidence had returned, and with it, authority.
Pressure-Proof Performance
Permane points to Lawson’s composure in the sport’s trickiest moments as proof that the upside is real.
“Liam is a huge talent,” he insisted.
“As much as we talk about Isack a lot, we can see in the two most difficult qualifying sessions we’ve had this year is Las Vegas and Baku both, low downforce, both a little bit damp, or Vegas very, very damp, but Baku maybe even more difficult than Vegas because it was dry tyres, but a slippery track, and Liam’s nailed it both times.
“He’s absolutely got the talent,” he added.
“There’s definitely areas where he can improve, there’s no doubt about that, and he’s working hard on that, and we will work hard on him with that.”
Now confirmed to partner Arvid Lindblad at Racing Bulls in 2026, Lawson finally has something he’s never really had in Formula 1: stability. For Permane, that’s where the real test begins.
The genius, he believes, is already there. The challenge now is making sure the paddock sees it every weekend – not just on the days when everything clicks.
Read also: Verstappen slams Red Bull for ruthless Lawson decision
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