Liam Lawson was left feeling “very happy and very proud” of Racing Bulls’ performance in Singapore as he netted 10 points across the Sprint and Grand Prix – but still wasn’t certain if that will be enough to remain with the team in 2027.
Having qualified eighth for Saturday’s dramatic 20-lap Sprint, Lawson narrowly avoided the spinning McLarens on the final lap to improve to P5, which marked a well-deserved result after he stayed out of trouble in the tricky wet/dry conditions.
The New Zealander followed that up with a Q3 appearance and executed some key overtakes in the early stages of the Grand Prix, allowing him to later hold off Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Mercedes’ George Russell on his way to clinching P8.
“Very happy and very proud of the team,” Lawson summarised. “It’s been a pretty intense few weeks and as a team we’ve scored in all three races.
“Personally, I probably should’ve scored in all three as well but it’s great to have the last few weekends go to plan. To have points in both the Sprint and race, for us, is great so I’m very happy.”
Asked whether this kind of performance would help him secure his seat for next season, he responded: “You tell me! It’s obviously normal at this point of the year, but right now I’m just focused on trying to score each weekend and try to keep extending.”
Racing Bulls Team Principal Alan Permane confirmed earlier in the weekend that a decision on their 2027 driver line-up would be made “in the coming weeks”, with Formula 2’s Nikola Tsolov emerging as a contender alongside Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.
The latter has impressed in his rookie campaign, scoring 38 points so far to put himself in the top half of the Drivers’ Championship, but he has not been satisfied with his performances in recent weeks.
After surviving a collision with his team mate in Baku, Lindblad finished P7 before adding a single point to his tally at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. He then failed to score in Singapore as he was squeezed into the first corner and had to back out, dropping from P10 to P15 over the course of the race.
“I need to review the procedure,” he said of the opening lap. “I don’t know if I messed it up or what but yeah, the start was shocking. Obviously I got swarmed into Turn 1 and then I had to brake because it all sort of pinched up.
“I think three of us would’ve been out so obviously I lost quite a few positions. I kind of knew at that point it was going to be a pretty long one.
“Unfortunately we had quite a few issues that I was trying to nurse. I got driven past a few times on the straights so it’s not been an easy day.
“There are a lot of things also on my side that I’ve been struggling with a bit, so I just need to understand with the team what’s been going on, why it’s been a bit more difficult these past few weekends, and just try and have a good reset before Austin. I don’t think I’ve been quite at my full form these past few weeks.
“I think yesterday was positive in Qualifying. It’s been a difficult week and I was able to put it on the line over one lap. Maybe the results have been good in this triple header but I wouldn’t really say it’s been particularly great from my own performance point of view.”
