Liam Lawson is ‘completely lost’ at Racing Bulls with the 2026 Formula 1 regulations

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Liam Lawson has had a difficult start to the 2026 season and the new era of Formula 1, scoring no points at the Australian Grand Prix.

The New Zealander was aware of the challenges ahead of him with the new technical regulations. In fact, Lawson admitted he did not feel ready for 2026, as he did not know what to expect from the cars.

Lawson was positively surprised by Red Bull’s engine in pre-season, and he used it to get into Q3 and qualify eighth at the Australian Grand Prix. However, he would quickly learn how difficult the new ruleset is.

Does Liam Lawson already need to worry about Arvid Lindblad after the Australian Grand Prix?

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The Racing Bulls driver got off to a poor start off the grid as he struggled to spin the turbo fast enough. It was almost a nightmare situation as Franco Colapinto almost crashed into the back of Lawson, but managed to evade him with a sharp move.

From there, Lawson had a fairly uneventful race and limped home in P13. Teammate Arvid Lindblad finished an impressive eighth, scoring valuable points.

Liam Lawson is ‘suffering a lot’ with the new regulations

Lawson dropped dramatically down the order off the start and had a tense battle with Sergio Perez as he slowly climbed back up the order. But he struggled to make strong progress, and as journalist Julianne Cerasoli notes, he is ‘completely lost’ with the new regulations.

Discussing the race on her YouTube channel, Cerasoli talked about Gabriel Bortoleto’s race for Audi and how he struggled to catch Lindblad and Oliver Bearman ahead of him.

She said: “Jonathan Wheatley said: ‘We were happy because Gabriel tried to come up with new things there, tried to manage the energy in a different way to get there.’

“Maybe it would have worked with one or two more laps, but in the end, the race was over and he couldn’t pass the British driver who, by the way, had an excellent weekend.

“I think I’ll be talking a lot about him throughout the year, but just so you guys can pay attention to Lindblad, because his teammate, Liam Lawson, from what I’m hearing, is suffering a lot with these new regulations, he’s completely lost.

“So we’re going to hear a lot about Lindblad at the start of the season, because this Racing Bulls car is good.”

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

Liam Lawson expressed anger on his radio about his 2026 car in Melbourne

With it being the first race of the season, many drivers will still be getting used to the new cars and regulations. Many have openly criticised the changes and how difficult the machines are to drive.

The Kiwi driver experienced that first-hand in Australia. Lawson could not understand ‘really bad harvesting’ during the race as he expressed anger on his radio.

It is early days for the Racing Bulls driver, but at the moment, it is clear that his rookie teammate has the upper hand at the Faenza outfit and Lawson has some work to do to get on top.