Formula 1: Liam Lawson’s message to rival teams with career-best equalling finish – Alex Powell
Monaco isn’t supposed to be that exciting.
On the narrow Monte Carlo streets that he now calls home, Liam Lawson gave yet another reminder of his status as a Formula One midfield performer, to take fifth in the Monaco Grand Prix.
While just about every driver experienced drama in one form or another, Lawson kept his hands clean to come home and equal his career-best finish result.
That finish marks Lawson’s fifth load of points – including sprints – of the year, from only six race weekends.
And with points finishes now making up the majority of Lawson’s grands prix this year, the Kiwi is doing himself favours off the track as much as he is on it.
Here’s what we learned in Monaco:
Silly season begins
With Formula One now in Europe, as Monaco starts a run of six races in eight weeks, teams are in position to begin handing out contracts for next year and beyond.
In total, of the 22 seats on the Formula One grid, 15 are yet to be filled for 2027. Both Ferraris, McLarens, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen are all signed for next year, some beyond that.
Admittedly, it’s very hard to see Mercedes change either driver, while Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll’s seats at Cadillac and Aston Martin respectively might as well be off the table.
That, then, leaves 11 places for Lawson to push for to stay on the grid for next year.
There’s nothing to suggest he’ll leave Racing Bulls or the wider Red Bull family – he even said he’d sign a contract to stay if it was put in front of him to start the weekend.
But as the next few races pan out, Lawson is doing everything right to make sure he’ll be in motorsport’s pinnacle for a little while longer.
The shop window
If he does choose to leave, though, Lawson will have no shortage of suitors.
Depending on if the Red Bull door is truly closed to him or not, considering his two-race demotion in 2025, the Kiwi’s ambitions could best be fulfilled driving for someone else.
Performances like what we saw in Monaco are the ultimate “come and get me” from Lawson to other teams.
Lawson has long maintained he wants to drive for Red Bull, but did falter on that at Zandvoort last year, when he intimated he’d be prepared to leave.
With 26 points, Lawson now sits ninth in the drivers championship, with the top eight spots being made up of the drivers from the “big four” teams.
If of those teams – Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren or Red Bull – wants to make a change to its driver lineup, Lawson’s name is, theoretically, at the top of the queue for where they might look.
At 24, he’s still far from his peak, while his displays this year have shown a driver that’s completely adapted to the challenge of racing in Formula One, with new regulations to boot.
What’s more, the Herald understands both Williams and Audi have expressed interest in signing him in the past.
Yes, there are 16 grands prix and three sprints still to be raced this year. But if it carries on the way it is, Lawson’s name will be at the top of most teams’ shortlists.
Making it count
Of all the places to pull one out of the bag in qualifying, this was it.
Monaco is, without question, the most difficult track to overtake on in all of motorsport. Even with mayhem over the 78 laps, this wasn’t a great race for overtaking.
Which made qualifying all the more important. Across the three practice sessions, both Racing Bulls cars were nowhere near the top 10.
It was only some late changes to the set-up and near flawless laps in Q2 that had Lawson starting in the top 10 at all.
In fact, that was Lawson’s first top 10 start since Melbourne, where he qualified eighth before his battery didn’t fire on the line.
Considering Lawson has scored four lots of points from outside the top 10, replicating the qualifying effort from Monaco could see the Kiwi go from strength to strength.
More reliability woes
The only blemish on Racing Bulls’ weekend came with both cars nearly suffering reliability issues.
Both of the team’s cars required serious work on the morning of the grand prix, while Lawson himself admitted he was fortunate to even start the race.
Worryingly, Racing Bulls’ reliability issues aren’t new. Earlier this month, Lindblad wasn’t even able to start in Canada, in a race that saw Lawson take seventh.
Also, when you take into account Verstappen’s issues that saw him lose power on the first lap and retire on the second, and Isack Hadjar complain of a loss of power for most of the race, fingers might have to be pointed at Red Bull’s new Ford engine.
The Red Bull-powered teams aren’t the only ones to suffer this year. Spare a thought for Lando Norris, who’s been forced out of the past two races, as his championship defence implodes.
But, if Red Bull are serious about getting back to winning ways – still without a victory this season – this needs to be sorted.
Barcelona boost?
Despite its problems, that Red Bull engine could come up trumps when Formula One heads to Barcelona next week.
Raw data assessed by the FIA earlier this week shows the Ford power unit is the strongest engine for straight line speed.
Given Barcelona is one of the fastest circuits on the grid, next week could see both Red Bull and Racing Bulls hit a new level of performance.
Last year, Lawson was forced to settle for 11th and miss the points by one place after a late safety car.
So, if the Ford engine can deliver anything like the data says it’s capable of, we could see something special in Catalunya.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.