Isack Hadjar rages in unheard radio as Liam Lawson delivers Racing Bulls’ best qualifying in Baku

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Liam Lawson produced Racing Bulls’ best qualifying performance of the season in Baku. Together with Carlos Sainz, he gatecrashed the top three.

There were a record six red flags, which meant qualifying ran longer than every race in 2025. As big names like Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc crashed in monstrous winds, Lawson shone.

Lawson set the second-fastest time, just behind Sainz, just before Leclerc brought out the red flags in Q3. Subsequent rain showers prevented the usual front-runners from dislodging them, with the exception of Max Verstappen.

P3 is the best grid position of Lawson’s F1 career so far. He’s been outshone by teammate Isack Hadjar this season, but Saturday belonged to him.

Isack Hadjar fumes over costly error at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Hadjar’s fourth place in Baku qualifying was previously Racing Bulls’ highest grid slot. Here, he believes he could have been up front without a costly error.

Speaking in an unbroadcast team radio message, Hadjar said his lap had been ‘perfect’ before he vaulted the kerb at the final corner, which cost him momentum on the longest ‘straight’ of the year.

“F—, I’m an absolute idiot… what the hell was that?!” he raged. “I just did everything perfect except the f—— final kerb.”

Hadjar set a 1:42.372, six-tenths slower than Lawson. He was slowest of the eight drivers who got a time on the board in Q3.

Had the Frenchman climbed into the top three, he would have sealed the qualifying head-to-head in his favour. As it is, Lawson, who made his sixth Q3 appearance of the year, pulls it back to 11-4.

Liam Lawson shares what heroics in Baku mean for Racing Bulls future

Various reports suggest that Hadjar will join Red Bull for 2026, with Arvid Lindblad moving up from Formula 2 to the sister team. That means Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda are fighting for the final Racing Bulls seat.

Tsunoda’s relationship with Honda could be key as, even though they’re no longer supplying engines to Alan Permane’s team, they may continue to support the Japanese driver as a major personal sponsor.

But the message coming from Red Bull’s leadership is clear – no decisions have been made yet. Helmut Marko has indicated that he won’t finalise the 2026 line-ups until the USA/Mexico double-header next month at the earliest.

When those comments were put to him in the post-race press conference, Lawson said: “I mean, for sure, it’s good to have these results. For me personally, [qualifying] has been something that has been tough, especially this year, especially early in the season.

“I think it’s been very, very close this year, but personally, we just had a lot of stuff going on earlier in the year that was making qualifying more difficult, and it definitely wasn’t a strong point.

“So it’s important for me more than anything. Obviously, it helps, these performances, but we need more than one. We need to keep the consistency, and also points are more important as well tomorrow in the race.”