Liam Lawson reacts after Singapore Grand Prix statement drive

Liam Lawson said he and Racing Bulls were left “very, very happy” after a strong Singapore Grand Prix race weekend ended on a major high.

The New Zealander impressed around Marina Bay in a strong drive to P7. It was a statement performance as Racing Bulls prepares to decide its F1 2027 pairing in the coming weeks.

Liam Lawson shines as Racing Bulls decision looms

Lawson, Arvid Lindblad and Nikola Tsolov are competing for two F1 2027 Racing Bulls seats. Lawson could not be doing much more to prove his worth to the Faenza squad and Red Bull programme.

After finishing fifth in the Sprint, the 24-year-old impressed again by securing seventh in the Grand Prix, from eighth on the grid.

“I think the target really today was to get it off the line, and we were able to do that,” Lawson told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media after the race.

He added: “We started on the soft. I had so much grip that I was attacking a McLaren. I didn’t really want to be. I just wanted them to pull away.

“But, first part of the race, first lap, everybody was bunching up.

“The car has been very strong this weekend, and in all conditions, so we’re very, very happy.”

In the sister Racing Bulls, Lindblad had complained of issues with his power unit, as he was “getting driven past in the straights. The engine braking was pretty bad, so it wasn’t easy to drive.”

Lawson was asked if he encountered similar odd behaviour from the Red Bull-Ford PU.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” he confirmed. “I think in general the power units are weird.

“Difficult to have a consistent run through the race when you have the same every time.

“The first part of the race for me was very, very tough, honestly. Especially the first few laps, we had a lot of… I think mainly because also we didn’t do any long running on Friday, so nobody knew what the power was going to be like. So that made it very, very tough.

“Once we got on top of that, everything was okay.”

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Lawson’s double-points finish in Singapore came in contrast to a challenging race weekend for Lindblad, who walked away from Marina Bay empty-handed.

With 75 points on the board, the Kiwi has established himself as the comfortable leader of the midfield pack. He sits P9 in the Drivers’ Championship standings, 34 points ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane stated at the Singapore GP that its F1 2027 driver line-up would be decided in the coming weeks.

After a free weekend coming up, the season will resume with the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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