Racing Bulls scored double points in 2026 F1 Austrian GP but radio messages and post-race media interaction with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad tells a different story thanks to team orders controversy.
On paper, it was a great result in 2026 F1 Austrian GP for Racing Bulls, who followed senior team’s solid result up front at their home event at Red Bull Ring. But post-race media interaction and radio messages between driver and pit wall shed details of how they achieved the goal.
What happened with Lawson and Lindblad at 2026 F1 Austrian GP?
At the start, Lawson got the better of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar to gain a position. But he lost it as soon, while prompting on radio about fire in the cockpit. There was no visible fire when the world feed focused on the Kiwi. He maintained ninth from teammate Lindblad in the first stint.
The F1 rookie was called in before the Kiwi at the first stop to cover Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto. With Lawson pitting a lap later, it allowed Lindblad to attack his teammate on his out lap, with Haas’ Oliver Bearman in the mix too. In all of this, the Kiwi was advised to maintain lift-off procedure.
As he kept his nose ahead of Bearman while following the order, he was attacked by Lindblad at Turn 3, who went through Bearman and his teammate taking the inside line. The Haas driver tried to sneak through in the approach to Turn 4, but Lawson went in between the two cars to retake the position immediately.
The following lap saw Lawson enquire if he will be attacked. But as soon as his engineer said ‘negative’, Lindblad dived at Turn 4 and took the place after a minor touch. The Kiwi was naturally angry, noting that he lifted off by 50m as requested, but got still attacked by his teammate.
Lawson says he followed what he was told to do
Under VSC, Lawson was told that they will do everything to inverse the position at next pit stop. And it happened that way. The Kiwi pitted before Lindblad and got back ninth where he ended up eventually. From his side, he was clear about the instruction that he followed as told.
“Just the first few laps were very, very hot brakes, and it was just coming through the cockpit, so it settled down after that, and from there it was all good,” said Lawson in the print media pen after F1 Austrian GP. “Yeah, I mean, we were meant to, we had a strategy and executed it in the first stint.
“And then we were trying to manage, well I was told to manage brakes, and I wouldn’t be attacked, and then I was. So, yeah, it was not exactly planned, so I just made sure to stay close in that second stint, and made the pass again after the second stop,” summed up Lawson.
He agreed that there will be talks held. “Probably, I would say, yeah [there will be talks],” he said.
But overall, he was happy with double points in ninth and 10th. The F1 Austrian GP was his fourth straight points finish, to make it six races in points in 2026 from the eight done.
Both Lawson, Lindblad happy with double points
“No, I am happy, it was a great day, P9, I think with all the top teams finishing, that’s really the maximum we can do,” said Lawson. “So, yeah, I’m happy with today.” On the other end, Lindblad echoed sentiments in terms of scoring double points for the team.
The F1 Austrian GP was his third straight points finish. “We finished P9 and P10 and it worked out pretty well,” said Lindblad. “There was no threat from behind.” Explaining his side, he noted that he went for the move on Lawson as he had the pace, where he could stay ahead of him the whole stint.
Lindblad highlights pace advantage in second stint
It didn’t bother him as much with the move on Lawson, but he felt he could have managed the race better in terms of management. “I’m happy with the race,” he said. “Like you said, it’s double points for the team. So overall it’s been a good weekend. I gave it a good go at the start of the second stint and got ahead of him.
“I was ahead for the whole of the second stint and then the team boxed him a lap earlier. So he came out, he undercut me, came out ahead because of the new tyres. I kind of saw that coming. I thought they were going to do that, but that’s fine. It doesn’t really matter. I had some fun, got stuck in.
“I think I did a good race. For me, honestly, I’m more going to look at myself, what I could have managed better. Because there were a few things on the driving side, on a pace side, I think I could have managed better. So I’ll just focus on that, continue to learn. But I think I did a good race,” summed up Lindblad.
No team orders message from Racing Bulls team, wanted to attack towards the end
He affirmed that there was no message of team orders from the pit wall to inverse the position on track. “No [there was no talk with the pit wall],” he said. But he knew that they would probably inverse it in the pit stops which they did. He thought he will stay behind and attack towards the end of the race.
However, the blue flags and degradation didn’t help his case as he had to settle for 10th. “Yeah, I did. [And] yeah, [I expected the call from the team to hold],” said Lindblad. “I thought I’d wait and play it a bit differently and see that if I had an advantage at the end I could have a go.
“And honestly I was actually doing pretty well on the whole of the last stint. I just lost quite a lot more time with the blue flags because I was running around 1.5 or less for most of the stint. And it creeped up a little bit at the end because of the blue flags,” summed up Lindblad, who waved at Lawson post-race in the in-lap. Meanwhile, Racing Bulls sits sixth with 44 points in the standings, 13 behind Alpine.
Radio transcript for Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad battle and Racing Bulls team orders
Liam Lawson and Alexandre Iliopoulos (race engineer) at first pit stop:
Engineer: I think Bearman, pit exit.
Engineer: We need lift off straightaway. Bearman just behind you, old tyres.
LL: Cheers guys, cheers!
LL: Okay, look at our brakes.
Engineer: We need lift off, at least what you were doing before
Engineer: And tyre management as you were doing at the start of last stint.
LL: Okay, (inaudible) Am I going to be attacked?
Engineer: Negative.
Engineer: Arvid will hold position, we are not fighting.
LL: Dude! Alex!
Engineer: I told you, what I was told!
LL: Last f**king time, I am listening man…I lift off 50m and then I get attacked.
LL: [I am] held up now!
Engineer: Okay Liam, the plan is to stay close to Arvid. And we will try everything to inverse the position at the next pit stop. The goal for now is to stay with Arvid and pull away from Bortoleto behind.
LL: Yeah, its really hard to stay close to another car.
After 2nd stop:
LL: What about now? Am I going to be attacked?
Engineer: He’s been told to hold position.
Post-race:
Alan Permane: Liam, it’s Alan.
LL: Copy, Alan.
AP: Be cool, yeah. We saw that. Don’t worry. Be cool.
LL: Yeah, I know. Copy that, thank you.
Arvid Lindblad and Pierre Hamelin (race engineer) at first pit stop:
Engineer: Liam pit exit with Bearman, has not pitted.
(Again) Engineer: Bearman ahead, old medium.
Engineer: Arvid, hold position (unclear other message).
AL: Why?
Engineer: Lift-off critical. Lift-off remains critical.
Engineer: Ahead of Liam is Hülkenberg, on old medium, has not pitted. Back to your management.
Engineer: (Unclear message) followed by, ‘lift-off critical, Arvid. Absolutely critical, lift-off.’
Post second stop:
Engineer: We hold position. We hold position. We hold position.
Engineer: Arvid, we hold position, thank you. Take care of your lift-off. We are in a good place.
