New Zealander and Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson secured a P7 finish in the 2026 F1 Canadian GP. It means he stays in the top 10 in the standings.
With his car breaking down early in FP1 and then missing Sprint Qualifying because of it, the 24-year-old was massively on the back foot for the rest of the weekend.
In Grand Prix Qualifying, Lawson finished P12, 0.349s slower than teammate Arvid Lindblad who ended up 9th on the grid.
At the start, he took advantage of McLaren and Audi’s bad decision to fit inters at the start to move into P8 very quickly. The DNF for George Russell gave him another spot.
Liam Lawson on taking advantage of issues to finish P7 in 2026 F1 Canadian GP
Speaking in the print media pen after the 68-lap contest, the Kiwi explained how difficult the race was for him.
“Yeah, I mean, we survived. A lot of cars broke down.
“It was definitely not an easy race. We lacked speed, honestly, especially compared to our quali car.
“I think for me it’s been a hard weekend overall, anyway, just with missing Friday and yesterday trying to just push the car as hard as I could.
“And then today we capitalised, but I think we lacked some speed, especially compared to the Alpines.”
Holding off Pierre Gasly in the closing stages
Just as Lando Norris closed in and looked set to pass the Racing Bulls man, his gearbox packed up.
In the final laps of the 2026 F1 Canadian GP, Liam Lawson came under significant pressure from Pierre Gasly. Through the first stint, the gap was holding at 8s with both on mediums. Franco Colapinto had quickly checked out.
However, when both pitted under the VSC to clear Russell’s W17, the #30 was fitted with softs, while Gasly was on hards.
By the end, Lawson had to defend, including a hairy moment in the final chicane. Ultimately, he held on.
“He was definitely giving me a hard time in the race.
“He was a lot quicker than us at that point, honestly. The Alpines had a really good race pace.
“So yeah, it’s something we can look at, maybe tyre strategy as well. Maybe the hard little works better, I’m not sure.
“But I think considering everything this weekend, it’s been a good result.”
A long soft tyre stint and cold temperatures
Liam Lawson did 37 laps in the final stint on softs, showing how durable the tyres are in 2026. In the closing stages, however, he revealed two difficulties he faced.
On a more general point, the multi-time F2 winner explained how tough it was to generate tyre temperature during the race.
“Towards the end it’s just, yeah, a bit of graining and a bit of sliding around.
“The biggest thing here was temperature. Even in the Safety Cars or the VSCs, we couldn’t keep enough temperature in the tyres, even with absolutely full effort going into heating them up.
“So flat out laps, we were barely sitting at a stable temperature during the race.
“So yeah, it’s really hard and unique. It’s the first time we’ve really had that this year, other than test days in the cold.
“But I think when it rains it’s going to be really, really challenging for us.”
Liam Lawson on a boost for Racing Bulls at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP
Following a brutal lack of pace in Miami, updates brought by Racing Bulls to Montréal certainly delivered a big step.
Arvid Lindblad was flying all weekend, until a cruel DNS thanks to a clutch problem. Nonetheless, Lawson brought home six valuable points on Sunday.
“Yeah, it definitely is.
“Obviously it’s a shame what happened. I don’t know what happened completely yet to Arvid, but at least to bring home points, obviously, it’s good.”
