Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson delivered an impressive qualifying performance, in which he qualified P5. Lawson will start the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP from a career-best P3 after capitalising on the penalties of George Russell and Charles Leclerc. A position he has only achieved at one other race weekend, the 2025 F1 Azerbaijan GP.
Nonetheless, despite securing a second-row start, the New Zealander believed he did not maximise his full potential during the final session.
Lawson on challenging conditions during qualifying at 2026 F1 São Paulo GP
After experiencing both the dry and wet conditions at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Lawson was asked which condition he preferred, to which the Racing Bulls driver replied: “I mean, I think we have a good car in both conditions. So yeah, either way, honestly, we’ll see.”
Reflecting on the wet qualifying session, Lawson admitted that despite the challenging conditions and the lack of grip from his car, he did enjoy the session.
In Q3, the New Zealander was also one of the first out on track behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. Lawson revealed that while his first flying lap did help him secure P5, it also affected his chances of improving on the next attempt as he felt he would have caught the Spaniard.
The Racing Bulls man was over 2s quicker than Alonso on the first flying laps.
“I think, yeah, it’s always tough in these conditions, but it’s also enjoyable. You know, these cars, a lot of horsepower this year and not much grip, so you’re really sliding around, and I think we just had a very good car. It’s actually a shame we made a gap to Fernando [Alonso] and caught him too much in the first lap, and then I had to abort the last lap, which ended up being probably the optimum one, and then it rained. So, yeah, frustrated to not get everything out of it, but obviously we get lucky tomorrow with a couple more places.”
Racing Bulls have the potential to achieve higher results
The New Zealander also reflected that Racing Bulls could have achieved better results if the rain had not got woese.
However, Lawson’s ultimate regret of his Qualifying outing at the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP was not leaving a “big enough gap” to Alonso at the start of Q3.
“I think we had a good chance today, honestly. We had a very strong car. So I think we were very good at the call to go to onto inters in Q2. That’s probably what put us up there initially, but even in Q3 I think we had a good chance at fighting the front guys. But yeah, unfortunately I just didn’t make a big enough gap. It’s my fault. But obviously we get a couple of places tomorrow, and we start in a good place.
“Yeah, we qualified fifth [before the penalties]. So it’s still a good place to start. Obviously I’ll always take the third position, but you always want to maximise as a driver as well.”
Looking ahead to the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP
Looking ahead to the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP, the weather forecast suggests a high chance of rain, similar to the conditions during Qualifying. Lawson is looking forward to a possible wet 2026 F1 São Paulo GP but is concerned the conditions will lead to multiple red flags.
“Yeah, it’s going to be interesting, I think. Obviously when it rains, the problem is it rains so heavy that you can’t really drive. So there was a period in quali where we got quite lucky, where it was just sort of consistent, and we were able to do, I think, Q2. Like Q1, Q2. But basically, I think once it gets… Most of the time when it rains, it rains more than that, like it did before quali, and then you can’t really race. So there might be some… If it rains like that tomorrow, there’ll be some red flags.”
Lawson discusses drivers being allowed to stay out during wet conditions
As explained by Lawson, at the start of Qualifying, he found himself in a substantial amount of standing water which made driving unpredictable and dangerous.
He added that he preferred being out on track rather than being stuck inside the garage and that the race officials should have more trust in the drivers’ skill and their ability to manage the risk.
“When we started, it was extremely sketchy. I think we were definitely pushing it. I mean, I like the fact that we were out there and not in the garage, honestly. Obviously, it is risky, but there wasn’t that many incidents. So I feel like, you know, I would want to push more and obviously go out in these conditions and leave it to us a little bit. But at the start, it was definitely more like that. There was a lot of aquaplaning.”
