Liam Lawson to McLaren tease as Oscar Piastri warned by Steiner

Jamie Woodhouse

15 Nov 2026 7:01 PM

Could Liam Lawson end up at McLaren down the line?

Liam Lawson has been teased as a potential option for McLaren, should Oscar Piastri struggle to rediscover his form in F1 2027.

That link was made by former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, who also weighed in on Piastri’s recently-announced split with long-time manager Mark Webber.

Oscar Piastri warned over F1 2026 repeat impact

A little over a year ago, the Melbourne native looked destined to become world champion. A harrowing weekend in Baku instead proved to be the catalyst for his title bid falling apart.

Then came Formula 1’s new regulatory era, one which Piastri is still working on adapting to. Only twice has he made the podium in F1 2026. Teammate Lando Norris has won three grands prix off the back of his 2025 Drivers’ title win.

While Piastri believes he has made recent progress in clicking with the new generation of McLaren F1 machinery, he has received a stark verdict on what a repeat of F1 2026 could mean for his future.

“If he has got another year like this next year, Zak [Brown, McLaren CEO] will look for the next Oscar,” Steiner claimed on The Red Flags Podcast.

“I mean, he needs to find him.”

The American dropped an intriguing pointer on where, to his mind, Brown could potentially look.

“But maybe Liam Lawson is free.”

Following the Brazilian Grand Prix, the New Zealander was confirmed as staying with Racing Bulls for F1 2027, as part of an unchanged line-up, following long-running uncertainty over his future in the Red Bull programme.

With Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov to be promoted into a Red Bull/Racing Bulls reserve role for F1 2027, it means that speculation over Lawson’s longer-term position in the sport is likely to rumble on.

Steiner was asked whether, should McLaren at any stage look for a Piastri replacement, it could bring Carlos Sainz back to the team, considering his frustrations at Williams.

“Zak will look for somebody younger,” Steiner countered. “We all know Zak is pretty good at finding young talent. Zak likes to buy them cheap as well.”

He gave a clear “yes” when asked if he believed Piastri to be safe at McLaren for next season, the reigning Constructors’ champions currently sat fourth in the F1 2026 standings with four rounds to go.

Piastri has already embarked on a new career chapter following the confirmation of his split with Webber, his mentor and now former manager.

“I’m actually not too surprised,” said Steiner of that news, “because I’ve seen Mark this year maybe once or twice, not more. He was not around.

“And obviously he said at the beginning of the year that he will not be beside Oscar anymore as he was in the good old days.

“I think just the second half of the season last year, after he didn’t win the world championship, I think maybe Mark got a little bit involved too much, and then at some stage Oscar said, ‘Okay, I’m now more experienced. I want to do this on my own.’

“And in the beginning, you say, ‘Hey, let’s be less around.’ But Mark is not the guy which is like, ‘Okay, I’m just sitting on the sidewalk, seeing how we are not performing.’ And then Oscar maybe wants to cut the ties with Mark, but he owes him a lot. I mean, some of his success is owed to Mark Webber, in my opinion. It’s not an easy situation.

“But then I think just everybody went their own way, and at some stage they said, ‘You know what? If they have not fallen out already, we better split up now. Otherwise, we fall out.’ So that’s my opinion about how the whole thing happened.”