Liam Lawson equalled his best result in F1 with a P5 finish in the 2026 Monaco GP. It capped an extremely impressive weekend from the New Zealander.
On Saturday, he made it through to Q3 with a lap that was over 0.3s clear of the midfield. Unfortunately for him, he did not make the step Gasly did in the final segment and had to settle for P10 on the grid.
In the race itself, Max Verstappen‘s instant DNF moved him up to 9th. Through the first stint, the 24-year-old slowly eased away from Alex Albon, creating a buffer where he could box a lap later after the Thai and rejoin in the same position.
Lando Norris (ICE) and Charles Leclerc (crash) DNFs promoted him a futher two spots before the red flag. Then, penalties for George Russell and Pierre Gasly moved him up to 5th as the chequered flag fell.
The result came after a systems issue before the race almost meant a did not start for him.
Lawson on his worries about missing the 2026 F1 Monaco GP
Speaking in the print media pen post-race, Liam Lawson admitted he was very concerned he would not even get the chance to take part.
“Yeah, I was.
“I walked up to the garage and saw the car in a million pieces and I thought I wasn’t racing today.
“Yeah, it’s been a big turnaround. Massive effort from the guys and girls to put it together and get us out on track.”
A perfect strategy
When Alex Albon came in on lap 43, Liam Lawson could respond a lap later. As the top 8 at that stage had got away, the Kiwi was focusing on the Williams driver. He had enough of a gap to pit and easily come out ahead of Carlos Sainz. The Thai and Spaniard worked together to try and guarantee P9 and P10 for themselves once Norris retired, leaving Lawson on his own in 8th.
However, there was a twist. Albon’s mistake at the final corner allowed Arvid Lindblad on very old tyres to pass him. Once Sainz pitted, the other Racing Bulls was ahead of both cars.
The dream ticket came when a red flag was thrown for the track surface concerns. A free tyre change opened the door for a superb P5 and P6 result for the team.
“Yeah, we were managing the Williams behind. In the end, we had quite a bit of pace over them, which was nice. So we just extended and gave ourselves a gap and then boxed when we needed to.
“And then obviously the red flag meant that we had both cars in a great position for the restart. And then to bring them both home in this order is pretty cool.”
A fine start to 2026 continues
Unreliability has been a key topic so far in the 2026 F1 season. Although they have not been perfect, Racing Bulls are doing better than their most of their midfield competitors in this area.
Following a very difficult weekend in Miami regarding pace, they have looked very strong in Montréal and Monaco.
Liam Lawson bagged ten points yesterday, leaving him P9 in the 2026 F1 Drivers’ Championship after the Monaco GP. He’s scored in four of the six Sunday races to date.
He reflected on his season so far when asked about it.
“I feel good.
“It’s been a good start to the season, even on weekends where we’ve started further away or had difficulties.
“I think at the moment as well with the way that the races are going, quite a lot of people retiring, issues, things like that. For us, we’ve just been surviving, especially today to put a car together literally two minutes before green light and [to] have no issues in the race and have a car that was competitive is very, very cool.”
