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Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane believes that Liam Lawson is finally starting to “eliminate” his mistakes in qualifying, but the New Zealander still has more to find.
Permane is a huge believer in Lawson, who has led Racing Bulls to sixth place in the early F1 constructors’ standings this year with 10 of their 14 points so far. Lawson is also the second-best Red Bull family driver in 2026, with just Max Verstappen outscoring him with 12 points.
Lawson is reaping the rewards from starting a season for the same team that he finished the previous campaign with for the first time in his Formula 1 career. The 24-year-old secured P7 in the F1 Sprint in Shanghai and the Chinese Grand Prix before taking P9 in the Japanese GP.
The Kiwi had only previously scored points in back-to-back Grands Prix once in his career, with his P8 finishes in Belgium and Hungary during rounds 13 and 14 last season. It also took him until round eight to score his first points in 2025, including the two he spent at Red Bull.
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Alan Permane thinks Liam Lawson is starting to “eliminate” his mistakes in qualifying
As well as the benefit of Lawson starting a season at Racing Bulls for the first time, Permane thinks the Hastings native is also profiting from him starting to “eliminate” the mistakes that he used to make in qualifying. But he feels Lawson still has to further refine his consistency.
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Lawson only made Q3 eight times through the 22 rounds he spent at Racing Bulls last term, yet then-teammate Isack Hadjar made Q3 16 times – including 15 whilst teammates. Racing Bulls have already seen Lawson reach the top-10 shootout once from three rounds this year.
“I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say again with Liam, I see immense talent there,” Permane told Speedcafe. “Some of his performances last year were outstanding. What he needs to do, and what he is doing so far, is eliminate mistakes.
“We can’t be qualifying third on the grid one weekend and then out in Q1 the following weekend, and he knows that. And he’s working hard to ensure that doesn’t happen.
“And if he doesn’t improve his top level, if he just eliminates the bad level and lifts everything up to what we know he’s capable of, that will already be a fantastic step. And that’s the next thing to build.
“But I’d much rather he works on, not works on the absolute pace, because I think that’s there, it’s working on the consistency, which he’s doing.”
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Permane told Lawson to “eliminate” his qualifying problems ahead of the 2026 season, after he also struggled to explain why he could not deliver consistent results in 2025. Hadjar even beat Lawson 16-6 in their Grand Prix qualifying head-to-head and 5-0 in Sprint Qualifying.
Lawson reached Q3 for the first time in the 2026 season in Australia, as he qualified in P8 for the opening race. He also qualified P14 in China and Japan, and he also led rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad in their first two qualifying sessions, but a front wing issue cost him in Japan.
A front wing issue saw Lawson bow out in Q2 in Japan, where Lindblad progressed to Q3 for the first time in his rookie campaign. Lawson had been the faster Racing Bulls driver during Q1 at Suzuka, and he will now try to respond at the Miami Grand Prix next time out in May.
Permane has confirmed that Racing Bulls will have upgrades in Miami, as well as in Canada, due to the cancellation of the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia pushing their upgrade plan together. He even claims Racing Bulls’ upgrade package in Miami will be “fairly significant”.
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