Nationality: New Zealander
Birthday: 11 February 2022
Current team: Racing Bulls
Previous teams: Red Bull
Number: 30
Strengths: Aggressiveness, toughness, ok race pace
Weaknesses: Terrible qualifier, mistake prone, lacking consistency
Strongest tracks: Belgium, Singapore, Austria, Brazil
Weakest tracks: Las Vegas, Spain, Netherlands, Mexico
Statistics
Grand Prix wins: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Fastest laps: 0
Podiums: 0
World Championships: 0
F1 teammate record H2H
Total Q record: 8-28
Total R record: 12-20
| Team mate | Q record | R record |
| Lindblad (2026) | 1-0 | 0-1 |
| Hadjar (2025) | 6-16 | 7-14 |
| Verstappen (2025) | 0-2 | 0-2 |
| Tsunoda (2023-24) | 1-10 | 5-5 |
Pre-F1 championship results
3rd in Formula 2 (2022)
9th in Formula 2 (2021)
5th in Formula 3 (2020)
Won in Toyota Racing Series (2019)
Accomplishments in other series
2nd in Super Formula (2023)
2nd in DTM (2021)
Career analysis
Liam Lawson previously looked like an extremely interesting prospect. For a long time, it was difficult to project his exact level. He never looked like a top-class driver in the classic junior series (F2, F3) but did show occasional highs with his racepace and aggressiveness in wheel-to-wheel battles.
However, in other racing series, he was much more impressive. While driving in F2 in 2021, he was also taking part in DTM, finishing second in that championship as a rookie – and ahead of Alex Albon, by the way.
Red Bull sent him to Japan to participate in Super Formula in 2023, where he was impressive yet again. Alongside many experienced drivers, he was among the best and finished 2nd overall, winning 3 of 9 rounds and taking pole at the final round at Suzuka.
Lawson was allowed to stand in for Daniel Ricciardo in some F1 rounds in 2023. While clearly off the pace in qualifying, he showed great racepace and had his most impressive performance at Singapore, a notoriously difficult track. Over the entire course of his young career, Lawson has shown great adaptability.
Fans wanted to see Lawson permanently in F1 with Racing Bulls in 2024. He did not start the season as a race driver with the team but was eventually promoted. This time, he was fairly beaten by Tsunoda, although not as much as it appeared. Tsunoda won 6-0 in qualifying, but Lawson did have a bit of bad luck and would often outperform Tsunoda in sprint qualis (which are not accounted for in that 6-0 statistic). In races, Tsunoda had a slight advantage.
His promotion to Red Bull was obviously too premature and, by some accounts, not fully earned, as Lawson had never finished higher than 9th in an F1 race up until that point.
Calling is Red Bull stint a failure is unreasonable, of course, as Lawson only got two race weekends. Upon returning to Racing Bulls, he had an okay year, although throughly beaten by his younger teammate Isack Hadjar.
Lawson has a skill-set that Helmut Marko liked, but does he have the pure pace to compete with the top drivers of the sport? Perhaps not, and that’s what we saw in 2025. Lawson is not a bad driver by any means, but the F1 field is more competitive than ever, so he ranks near the bottom. If he can beat Arvid Lindblad in 2026, he may secure himself another year at Racing Bulls. But if not, then he could be sacked by the summer break.
