Liam Lawson faces Formula 1 career ‘dead end’ if he doesn’t improve his qualifying in 2026

Follow us on Google Discover

Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson will be fully aware of what he needs to do this season to maintain his status as a Formula 1 driver beyond 2026.

Very few teams have had as much driver turnover as Racing Bulls since their debut as Toro Rosso 20 years ago.

The longest surviving partnership belongs to Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, who managed 46 Grand Prix together, although crucially, neither driver was ever rewarded with a Red Bull promotion.

What’s your podium prediction for the Australian Grand Prix? 🇦🇺

Let us know in the comments below!

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad are the latest pairing Racing Bulls are trying in 2026, although one driver has already had a taste of what it’s like in the senior team, while the other still has a long career ahead of him, having only just turned 18.

Lindblad is impressing behind the scenes already, but the expectations are much higher for Lawson going into this campaign.

Jolyon Palmer has voiced doubts about Lawson being a team leader, and now the 24-year-old is being told that his performances in qualifying have to improve to avoid falling off the grid.

READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know

Liam Lawson faces Formula 1 ‘dead end’ if his qualifying doesn’t improve in 2026

A report from Motorsport-Total has shared more details about Lawson’s prospects beyond this season.

Lawson signed a one-year contract extension last season, and like most Red Bull drivers, is only ever one bad campaign away from being replaced by the myriad of youngsters waiting for their turn in F2 and F3.

It’s believed that Lawson’s ‘biggest problem’ is his qualifying pace, and after Max Verstappen beat him in all three qualifying sessions when they were together at Red Bull, his record wasn’t much better against Isack Hadjar.

Hadjar outqualified Lawson on 16 occasions, including Sprint Races, with Lawson coming out on top just six times.

Could this be the issue that ends Liam Lawson’s Formula 1 career?

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

The 24-year-old deserves some credit, considering he had no pre-season testing in the VCARB 02 and had to get up to speed midway through the campaign.

However, if Lindblad starts to get the better of Lawson, then it’s believed that his F1 career would have reached a ‘dead end’.

With Lawson reportedly struggling with the driving style required with these new cars and the tricky battery management needed during qualifying, the 24-year-old is immediately going to be under pressure.

READ MORE: All to know about Racing Bulls from team principal to Red Bull affiliation

Liam Lawson has already identified qualifying as an area he needs to improve

There were some highlights for Lawson during qualifying sessions last year, including starting P3 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

He avoided making mistakes where others couldn’t, with a record six red flags shown during the session.

Lawson also managed to outqualify Verstappen in Austria, and his fourth-place start in Brazil the previous year, when he was fighting for his F1 future, was magnificent.

The 24-year-old was asked by Formula 1’s official website, going into last year’s summer break, where he needed to improve most and answered: “If I were to just pick an area, overall, it’s qualifying.

“With how important it is at the moment because everybody’s very close, even on tracks that are maybe easier to overtake, it’s still difficult because you don’t have a three, four, five-tenth pace advantage. You have a one or two-tenth pace advantage, and that’s very hard to overtake.

“Qualifying is very important; it sets up your weekend. Where our weekends have fallen away, at least on my side, has been normally in an average qualifying. Where our weekends have been strong, it’s when we qualify well.

“That’s the main target: just extracting everything, making sure we have the car in the best place going into qualifying, and then for me getting everything out of it and doing a better job.”