The 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP proved to be a productive weekend for Liam Lawson, though it highlighted a glaring disparity between the Racing Bulls challenger’s single-lap execution and its long-run pace.
Although the Kiwi driver went through a pit stop setback and a highly unusual incident that forced Nico Hülkenberg’s retirement, Lawson crossed the line in ninth place. However, a penalty to Franco Colapinto saw the Argentinian driver dropped from eighth to 10 place, promoting Lawson to P8 and his Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad to P9.
The Kiwi driver has now scored points in five out of seven races this season.
Saturday pace failed to translate into Sunday race
Coming off a highly competitive qualifying session, expectations were high on the Racing Bulls front for the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP on Sunday. However, as the race unfolded, the car’s performance shifted and left the team struggling to match the pace of its midfield opponents like Alpine, as well as the German in the Audi.
In the print media pen, Liam Lawson reflected on the disparity they experienced between Saturday and Sunday. He noted that the team has work to do in reviewing what caused the difference.
“So something for us to review for sure, we had a very strong car in quali yesterday and just not as strong today.“
The drop in race pace was particularly evident when Alpine managed to leapfrog them during the Grand Prix, despite trailing significantly during Saturday’s sessions. Lawson was six tenths faster than Colapinto in Q2.
While a stop under VSC helped Pierre Gasly jump him, the Kiwi had the French driver right behind him before he boxed for the second time, showing the turnaround.
“I mean just the quali and race pace, we knew the tyres were going to be very hard here but after how quick we were yesterday, we probably expected to be in front of them.”
An unusual retirement for Hülkenberg at the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP
Nico Hülkenberg retired his car on lap 29 in the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, due to the car turning off thanks to the stone kicked up by Lawson.
When Lawson was informed that he had indirectly caused Hülkenberg’s DNF without any physical contact, he was in complete shock.
“Are you serious? No way. Oh that’s so unfortunate, obviously I had no idea and if I could perfectly aim for something like that, it would be quite impressive but I had no idea, I just knew that he dropped out.”
Pushing the car to its limit
The pitlane setbacks also complicated Lawson’s race execution. After a slow opening stop, he pushed his Racing Bulls challenger to the limit to hold onto his position, which ultimately took a toll on his tires.
“Yeah it just wasn’t ideal, I mean I probably pushed a little bit too hard on the opening laps on that stint to try and stay in front of Nico, and then we lost another spot to Franco with a slightly slow stop the second time.
“So yeah, it’s frustrating but ultimately we didn’t have the speed anyway today.”
A good trajectory and a long season ahead
Despite experiencing frustrations in balancing the overall 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, the weekend resulted in a consecutive double-points finish for the team.
With a long season ahead, Lawson takes Barcelona as a benchmark that proves the team’s developmental direction is correct, especially considering how much the vehicle has evolved since post-season testing.
“Yeah I mean for us it’s good, it’s a long season, we have a lot of races to go. Alpine have had some good races recently and had some good points but if we keep this trend, obviously we’ve had a quick car yesterday in quali, hopefully that translates to the rest of the season, I think Barcelona is normally quite a good sign for that so we just need to sort out the race car.”
With the next race holding high importance for the broader Red Bull family, Racing Bulls will be eager to put on a strong showing on home soil, making their upward performance trajectory highly encouraging.
“Yeah it’s definitely encouraging, I think everything’s been working really well and we’re in the best place we’ve been with the car, it’s a totally different car to what we drove at the test at the end of the year so it’s very positive.”
