Lawson sends another timely reminder of his worth in Brazil

Liam Lawson is making a habit of punching above his weight, and Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix provided another impressive demonstration of the Kiwi’s ability to extract something special from Racing Bulls’ machinery.

For a few glorious moments at Interlagos, Lawson even threatened to turn the established pecking order upside down. Launching himself from third on the grid, following penalties that promoted him from his fifth-place qualifying result, he seized on Lando Norris’s sluggish getaway to sweep into second behind runaway leader Kimi Antonelli.

It was an eye-catching opening to a race in which the Racing Bulls driver briefly found himself occupying territory normally reserved for Formula 1’s heavyweights. Keeping them there, however, was another matter entirely.

Lawson eventually crossed the finish line eighth, having surrendered ground as his intermediate tyres deteriorated and the faster machinery gradually asserted itself.

But Charles Leclerc’s subsequent five-second penalty for their late-race collision promoted him back to seventh, securing another valuable haul for the Faenza-based outfit.

More importantly, it was another weekend in which Lawson – who still doesn’t have a contract for 2027 – demonstrated that his performances are becoming increasingly difficult to overlook.

A spectacular start, followed by a reality check

The opening exchanges offered a tantalising glimpse of what might have been. Lawson made excellent use of the damp conditions, found grip where others struggled and briefly positioned his Racing Bulls ahead of Norris and the chasing pack.

His ambitions of challenging Antonelli were soon tempered by the underlying performance difference between the cars, however, while tyre degradation added another complication.

“I mean, crazy race,” he said. “Honestly, I had a really good start. Good grip in Turn 1. Obviously made up a place, and then to be honest, I was thinking I might try and attack Kimi at some point in the lap.

“But yeah, just once the pace stabilises, they're a lot quicker than us, and we started to pull back. We were damaging our tyre, I think, quite a lot more than them. And then I think the pace on the dry was okay.”

The intermediate tyres proved particularly troublesome, with graining beginning remarkably early in the opening stint.

Lawson found himself wrestling with the familiar dilemma of whether to push through the deterioration or conserve the rubber, a balancing act made even more difficult by the drying track.

“I think it's a bit of graining,” said Lawson. “The problem is that you never know whether to push through the graining and try and wear it all off, or to try and look after the tyre and stop the graining."

“And when it's dry like this, you can't really do much. So for us, the graining started halfway through Lap 1, honestly. And I think for us, we were never really going to be able to keep those cars there anyway. So I'll go and review it, and see if there's something else I could have done.”

As the race transitioned to slick tyres, Oscar Piastri and a recovering George Russell also moved ahead. Yet Lawson remained firmly in the hunt for a top-seven finish, only for the returning rain to set up another lively encounter with Leclerc.

Leclerc clash, valuable points and an uncertain future

The Ferrari driver was charging forward in the closing stages and eventually found his way past Lawson at Turn 12. But te exchange involved contact, leaving the Racing Bulls driver initially concerned that his tyre might have suffered damage.

“Then at the end, I tried to keep Charles there,” said Lawson. “We had some contact in [Turn] 12. I'll go and review it. I don't really know exactly what to say yet, but obviously I ended up losing the place.”

He subsequently offered a rather pointed comparison with one of Leclerc's previous wheel-to-wheel encounters, while acknowledging that the two had produced an entertaining battle.

“I think it was his wing that hit my tyre, so I think we got really lucky. I feel like it was exactly like his GP2 move in Abu Dhabi, on Albon years ago. He did the same kind of thing, so maybe it's his specialty. I don't know if it's legal or not! We'll obviously go and review it, but it was a good battle overall.”

The stewards eventually answered that question, handing Leclerc a five-second penalty that restored Lawson to seventh in the final classification.

For the RB charger, the outcome represented another thoroughly satisfying afternoon, even if he would have preferred the rain to remain a more persistent feature of proceedings.

“I feel like we maximised today,” Lawson continued. “I had a strong race, I would have liked it to stay wet the whole race. It would have been cool. I probably would have had more of a shot there. But at the moment, we're topping the midfield as a team, and that's what we're targeting every weekend.”

Racing Bulls' points haul further strengthened its position in the battle for fifth in the Constructors' standings, extending its advantage over Alpine. Lawson, however, knows better than to start celebrating prematurely.

“We've seen it before,” he said. “We had it here a few years ago with Alpine, so we're not going to settle until it's done. But we're in a great place. The car is very, very strong. A couple more races to go, so I'm excited to finish off the season.”

There is another matter occupying his thoughts, of course. With Racing Bulls yet to confirm its 2027 driver line-up and young prospect Nikola Tsolov waiting in the wings, Lawson remains in limbo despite producing the sort of performances that strengthen his case for retention.

He has nevertheless been encouraged by the support coming his way, even if he would clearly prefer that enthusiasm to translate into something more concrete from the organisation itself.

“I appreciate all the support I've seen over the last few weeks,” he said.

“It's honestly really nice to see. Obviously, I would love it if it was more from a team! But at the moment, I'm just trying to enjoy driving the car because with everything else going on, I don't really know what else I'm meant to do.

Read also:

• Team Talk: Sunday in São Paulo

“I don't know what else I'm meant to say to you guys. I'm just going to keep driving and yeah, see what happens. I feel like Alan's been extremely supportive to me, and I appreciate that a lot, and I have enjoyed working closely with them and with the team this year. But obviously it's a big organisation.”

For now, Lawson's best response to the uncertainty is coming on the circuit. Another strong qualifying performance, another competitive Sunday and another substantial contribution to Racing Bulls' midfield campaign have strengthened his credentials.

If the team is looking for evidence of what he can deliver, Interlagos provided plenty of it.

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