Lawson matches best result of year

Liam Lawson produced a “strong race” at the Spanish Grand Prix and cemented his place in the top 10 of the drivers’ standings.

The New Zealand driver equalled his best finish of the year with sixth at the Madring Circuit in Madrid on September 14 as he continued his stand-in spell at Red Bull Racing.

The result matched his sixth-place finishes at the Monaco and British grands prix this season and leaves him ninth for the season on 59 points, 18 ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Mercedes Kimi Antonelli won in Madrid, finishing ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris respectively, and extended his world championship lead over teammate George Russell to 81 points.

Lawson, who is filling in for the injured Isack Hadjar, started the Spanish race from eighth on the grid and got as high as fifth at one stage of the contest.

“I think it was a decent race. We had good speed through parts of it, but I just think we weren’t on the ideal strategy today,” says Lawson, pictured. 

“We went for the alternate strategy, starting on the hards [tyres]. At the start I lost the position to Franco [Colapinto] and lost a lot of time as it was, but by the time I cleared him the virtual safety car came out and they’d boxed, so it was just tricky from there. 

“It would’ve been nice to start a bit higher, but considering where we did start, the result today was good and I’m happy we managed to gain two places in the race.

“I’m much more confident in the car this week, we’ve made a couple of great steps, so there are some good things to take away from the weekend.”

Lawson, who has been driving for Racing Bulls for most of 2026, has now completed three races for Red Bull this campaign after stepping up to cover Hadjar’s absence.

He finished seventh on his return to Red Bull at the Dutch Grand Prix and then took 14th in Italy last weekend.

Laurent Mekies, Red Bull’s team principal, praised Lawson for a “strong race and some good points” in his latest drive in Madrid.

“It certainly wasn't easy towards the end of his first stint on worn hard tyres, but he kept his cool and showed good pace in the final stint.”