Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson reflected on a great start and overall good performance for the team at the F1 2026 São Paulo GP as he took 7th. The New Zealander also shared his thoughts on the contact with Ferrari’s Leclerc.
In a chaotic Qualifying session, Lawson had set the fifth fastest time on Saturday. Yet, due to the penalties given to George Russell and Charles Leclerc, he started P3 for Sunday’s race.
The Racing Bulls driver had a brilliant start as he overtook McLaren’s Lando Norris, who had fallen from the lead, and stole P2 into Turn 2. Lawson fought to maintain his position ahead of Norris, but the Brit eventually found a way past after the Racing Bulls struggled on the intermediate tyres.
After that, Lawson lost even more grip and could not maintain the pace of the drivers ahead or behind. He was also passed by Hadjar, Russell, Verstappen as well before they switched to dry tyres. Running in P5 thanks to car #63 spinning on pit exit, he lost out to Piastri and Russell once more as that stint went on.
On Lap 56, the New Zealander pressured Leclerc in a battle for P7 as he had pitted for another set of softs, unlike the Monegasque. He eventually overtook the Ferrari, but as rain grew heavier closer to the end, Leclerc found himself back in the fight. Three tours from the end, the driver of car #16 tapped the left rear wheel of Lawson’s car at Turn 12 before overtaking him at Turn 3.
Finally, Leclerc was hit with a 5-second penalty after the race, promoting the Racing Bulls back into P7.
Lawson on a “crazy race” in Interlagos
After the F1 2026 São Paulo GP, Liam Lawson described his overall performance in the print media pen.
“Yeah, yeah, I mean, crazy race, honestly. Had a really good start. Good grip in Turn 1, obviously made up a place.
“And then, to be honest, I was thinking I might try and attack Kimi at some point in the lap,” he admitted as he briefly hoped of taking P1. “But yeah, once the pace stabilises, they’re a lot quicker than us, and we started to fall back. We were damaging our tyre, I think, quite a lot more than them. And then I think the pace on the dry was okay.”
Overall, Lawson felt it was a good weekend as Racing Bulls continue to gap Alpine in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Yeah, I mean, I feel like we maximised today. We had a strong race.
“I would have liked it to stay wet the whole race, it would have been cool,” he pondered. “Probably would have had more of a shot there, but at the moment we’re topping the midfield as a team, and that’s what we’re targeting every weekend.”
“Maybe it’s his speciality”: Lawson on Leclerc’s move and resulting contact
“And then at the end, I tried to keep Charles there. We had some contact in Turn 12. I’ll go and review it, I don’t really know exactly what to say yet, but obviously I ended up losing the place,” pointed out Liam Lawson just after the 2026 São Paulo GP.
When further asked about the incident, and whether he had been worried for a puncture, the New Zealander claimed: “Yeah, I mean, I think it was his wing that hit my tyre, so I think we got really lucky.”
“I feel like it was exactly like his GP2 move in Abu Dhabi, like, on Albon years ago. He did the same kind of thing, so maybe it’s his speciality,” joked Lawson.
The 24-year-old referenced an F2 race in 2017 where Leclerc had touched the back of Albon’s car at the hairpin before overtaking him for the victory on the first long straight at the Yas Marina circuit.
“I don’t know if it’s legal or not, we’ll obviously go and review it, but it was a good battle overall,” Lawson concluded.
It turned out it was not on this occasion.
Graining and pit strategy in F1 2026 São Paulo GP
After the race, Liam Lawson was asked about tyre degradation. Although he had a great start, the New Zealander was unable to maintain grip on his inters and hold off faster cars.
On whether the fallback was due to temperature or wear, Lawson claimed: “I think it’s a bit of graining.
“The problem is, you never know whether to push through the graining and try and wear it all off, or to try and look after the tyre and stop the graining.
“And when it’s dry like this, you can’t really do much. So, for us, the graining started halfway through lap one, honestly,” Lawson added: “And I think for us, we’re never really going to be able to keep those cars there anyway.
“So, I’ll go and review it and see if there’s something else I could have done,” he concluded.
