After qualifying 8th, Liam Lawson’s 2026 F1 Australian GP was ruined by a frighteningly slow start. Nearly missing being clipped by Franco Colapinto and dropping to 18th, he recovered enough to bring his Racing Bulls car home in 13th. After the race in the print media pen, Lawson, perplexed, said that the car had in fact lost power entirely at the line.
“I had no power, so I launched and just lost all power and I was sitting there, couldn’t get it back. And then a couple of seconds later I got it back and then got wheelspin, but I don’t know what happened. I haven’t had that in testing.”
Resuming pleasantries with Checo
Once he did get going, Lawson stayed toward the back of the field. Apart from retirements and pit stops his only on-track overtake was on Cadillac’s Sergio Pérez on lap 16. His sparring partner from the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix did not make things easy, engaging in wheel to wheel combat for a lap before relenting.
“Two years later he’s not over it. He’s fighting me like it’s for the world championship and we’re like P16. Obviously I don’t really care too much, my race was already over at that point.”
Lawson “not super confident about the positives” of the new car after 2026 F1 Australian GP
Lawson did join the chorus lamenting the driving characteristics of the new car, and its effects on the racing itself. While he was away from the lead battles, in the cockpit the package didn’t seem to facilitate a good experience.
“Through the race, I don’t know, obviously I didn’t see the race on TV, but from where I sat it was really tough to overtake. It was really hard to manage energy and not super confident about the positives you can take from the speed.”
Assessment from the back: solidly midfield
For the positives, Lawson extrapolated from teammate Arvid Lindblad‘s 2026 F1 Australian GP run. The Racing Bulls rookie qualified behind Lawson in 9th, but drove splendidly to an 8th place finish.
“I think it’s [Racing Bulls’ pace] about probably where he finished, about there. We were fighting with the Haas, the Audis, it’s probably about where it is. Yesterday we had the edge in qualifying, which was good. Without issues today I would have loved to see what was possible. Especially with a couple of the top guys not finishing. It’s frustrating to miss out on those opportunities, but I think it’s a decent start. Obviously going forward we need to try and keep improving with everybody else.”
