Liam Lawson has put in another typical solid performance driving for Oracle Red Bull Racing in the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid. Sixth place in what could be described as an uneventful race for the Kiwi reflected the consistency Lawson has displayed over the 2026 Formula One season.
“I think it was a decent race,” commented Lawson. “We had good speed through parts of it, but I just think we weren’t on the ideal strategy today. We went for the alternate strategy, starting on the Hards (tyres).
“At the start I lost the position to Franco (Colapinto) and lost a lot of time as it was, but by the time I cleared him the VSC came out and they’d boxed, so it was just tricky from there.
“The start was exciting and I had to take a lot of risks to get the move done on Franco because it’s quite difficult to overtake here.
“It would’ve been nice to start a bit higher, but considering where we did start, the result today was good and I’m happy we managed to gain two places in the Race.
“I’m much more confident in the car this week, we’ve made a couple of great steps, so there are some good things to take away from the weekend.”
Lawson’s teammate Max Verstappen finished second ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris with Mercedes Kimi Antonelli winning at the Madring Circuit.
“Once again, Max (Verstappen) extracted absolutely everything from the car, as he always does,” said Laurent Mekies, CEO and Team Principal Oracle Red Bull Racing. “There was obviously some frustration at the start when he had to give the place back to Lewis (Hamilton), but the Team on the pit wall took a good look at it and, credit to them, made the difficult call. It was painful at the time, but Max immediately got himself back into the fight and was outstanding all the way to the flag, including a great defence against the McLaren in the final laps.
“It was also a strong race and some good points from Liam (Lawson). It certainly wasn’t easy towards the end of his first stint (44/57 laps) on worn Hard tyres, but he kept his cool and showed good pace in the final stint.”
F1 Drivers’ Standings (Top 10)
1/ Kimi Antonelli 292
2/ George Russell 211
3/ Lewis Hamilton 191
4/ Lando Norris 186
5/ Charles Leclerc 167
6/ Max Verstappen 145
7/ Oscar Piastri 120
8/ Isack Hadjar 71
9/ Liam Lawson 59
10/ Pierre Gasly 41
F1 Teams’ Standings
1/ Mercedes 503
2/ Ferrari 358
3/ McLaren 306
4/ Red Bull Racing 230
5/ Racing Bulls 77
6/ Alpine 68
7/ Haas F1 Team 21
8/ Audi 17
9/ Williams 11
10/ Aston Martin 3
11/ Cadillac 0
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