Liam Lawson’s form picked up just before the F1 summer break, which is a trend he would surely like to continue into this week’s Dutch GP. The driver from New Zealand managed to score points in three of the last four races. He has bagged 16 across Austria, Spa and Hungary.
Despite a tough start to his first full season in the sport, the Racing Bulls driver spoke on Thursday about the changes he has made to achieve these recent strong results.
Finding consistency has been key
After finishing pointless in the first seven races in 2025, Lawson has finally found his feet. He explained in a print media session that finding consistency has been a key factor in his recent success.
“In general, I’ve felt pretty good recently. The speed’s been there most of the year, I would say. It’s just been consistency that’s been coming recently. I’m very aware that in Formula 1 it’s very tough to sometimes keep that. So I’m just trying to carry that form on and learn from what’s been working.”
Although pleased with his current performance, he is not taking it for granted. The driver from New Zealand shared that harmony within his team and a fast car have had a significant impact.
“I know that at some point it will come into some difficulties. But I think in general I feel pretty good. The team’s feeling pretty good as well. The car’s been fast so it would be good to try and carry that form on.”
Qualifying more important than ever
Lawson shared that a key aspect of his racing that he has found consistency in has been qualifying. As overtaking can be challenging at Zandvoort for the Dutch GP, this will surely be a focus for Lawson this weekend.
“It’s experience. It’s honestly the same sort of thing. Time in the car. A lot of the preparation on qualifying especially has been something that, because of how close it is this year, it’s so hard to overtake. You need a big pace advantage and there’s no pace advantage for everybody this year. Everybody’s very close. So qualifying has been very important.”
Lawson revealed that the work he has done outside of race weekends has had the biggest impact on his qualifying.
“It’s before the weekend. It’s the prep we do on the car. Obviously, it depends on how much you can prioritise qualifying over a race for example. But it’s just time that we spend looking at things.”
Though reaping the benefits of his improved qualifying, Liam Lawson noted external factors that can have a significant impact on a race result. Hoping to continue his current streak of good luck at the Dutch GP, Lawson shared his hopes that he will be able to execute everything correctly.
“For me personally as well, it’s making sure I put everything together as a driver as well. I think that’s just something that’s got a bit better through the year. At the same time, it’s not luck, but sometimes the first part of the year as I said, I felt the speed was there but we had just a lot of things that weren’t going our way, it felt like. Things recently felt like they have. Sometimes in motorsport, that’s all you need.”
Able to rely on his team
The Dutch GP marks Formula 1’s return after the short summer break. When asked whether he reflected on the first half of the season during his break, Liam Lawson revealed that he believes feeling more comfortable with his team has helped his performance.
The driver from New Zealand has had a challenging 2025 F1 season so far. Notably, his demotion from Red Bull to Racing Bulls at the start of the season surely gave him a lot to learn from.
“I would say, it’s more the recent things that have been working for us as a team. For me it’s a new engineering crew, coming to VCARB [Racing Bulls] this year, I’ve switched sides of the garage. Although I know the whole team, you learn things along the way. The relationships you have with people on your side of the garage, that just gets better over time. I start to understand the car more.”
As he has become more comfortable back in Racing Bulls, Lawson has been able to achieve better results. At the Austrian GP, he achieved his career-best result with a P6 finish. He revealed that changes to the car have helped with such performances.
“We made some changes around Austria at the time to make it more comfortable for me as well. I think that helped a lot. If I reflect on the first half, it’s getting more comfortable as the year went on. That’s probably what brought some of the results.”
