Following the 2026 F1 Japanese GP, Liam Lawson discussed the difficulty he is facing overtaking with the new regulations. The Racing Bulls driver admitted that while he faced issues with the car, the Japanese GP was the hardest so far.
Lawson finished in the points after qualifying P14. He was able to take advantage of the safety car following Bearman’s heavy 50G crash at Spoon.
Lawson reflects on his weekend at the 2026 F1 Japanese GP
Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate outqualified him for the first time in 2026, with Arvid Lindblad in P10 knocking Max Verstappen out of the top ten and Q3. The New Zealander suffered performance-wise in qualifying following a broken front wing on run 1 in Q2, heavily comprising his performance as run 2 did not have the front wing settings required.
During the race itself, Lawson moved up during the opening lap to P12, and he was able to take a cheap pitstop after Bearman’s scary crash brought out the Safety Car.
“Yeah, it helped us today. It wasn’t ideal in China and then here it’s definitely helped us. To come away with points is very, very positive.
“We definitely struggled at the start. I think we have to look over how we ended qualifying with the wing we put on the car. It was not where we expected it to be. So, it was definitely quite confusing there.
“And today, starting the race as well, it was also quite difficult to drive. So, we’ll look over everything and learn from it going forward.”
Lawson on the problems the new 2026 F1 regulations bring to racing
A number of drivers have heavily criticised the new 2026 regulations. 4x World Champion, Max Verstappen has compared the new regulatuons to “Mario Kart” and “Formula E on Steroids”.
Speaking in the print media pen after the 2026 F1 Japanese GP, the Kiwi discussed his opinion on the dificulties the new regulations bring to racing, stating that racing in Suzuka “was definitely the hardest.”
Although Haas driver Esteban Ocon was fastest in the second stint, he could never find a way past the Racing Bulls man.
“If you ask Esteban [Ocon] who was behind me, he was quite a lot quicker and he couldn’t overtake.
“For me it was very difficult today. In the train at the start, I had difficulties with the car.
“Even watching Max [Verstappen] and the guys in front, it was very hard to overtake. This race was definitely the hardest, so for me it feels more difficult right now.
“It doesn’t really matter what you do, you’re forced to use energy to make a pass. And there’s always, here at least, pretty much a straight afterwards that you get repassed by.”
Liam Lawson discusses the difficulties trying to understand when to deploy energy during a race
This new era of F1 has introduced a more sustainable way of racing in the sport. The 2026 power units use a 50/50 split between petrol and electric.
Throughout a lap, drivers have to recharge their battery in order to have enough power to make an overtake or defend from the car behind. The issue drivers face, however, is that once they use the battery to make an overtake, the other driver can immediately retake the position because they have more battery saved. This means that the drivers are having to focus more on managing their energy deployment than actually racing.
Lawson spent a majority of the 2026 F1 Japanese GP with the Haas of Esteban Ocon behind him, even though the Kiwi suggested that the Frenchman was in a faster car.
The Racing Bulls driver discussed how difficult it was to know where to deploy energy to ensure that the Haas stayed behind him during the race.
“Extremely. In fact, at the start of the race I got passed by, really unexpectedly, by Gabi [Bortoleto]. And I was stressed out about it, and then we got to the next straight and I just blew back by him with more energy.
“It’s pretty much how the race went. I knew that if Esteban [Ocon] used energy to pass me, I would be able to pass him back again. And I think he knew that, so we just stayed sustainable the whole time and it kept me in front.”
