How Liam Lawson built a headstrong mindset for F1 fightback

Liam Lawson believes the ‘strange’ way he arrived in Formula 1 has helped him develop the resilience needed to withstand the sport’s relentless pressure.

The Kiwi driver has been one of the stars of the midfield this season, and occupies ninth place in the Drivers’ Championship at the summer break.

Liam Lawson on his headstrong mindset and Formula 1 pressure

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His position is the best possible for any driver outside of the leading four teams, with Lawson having only missed out on points on three occasions so far in the 11 Grands Prix in the first half of the season.

Capitalising on the competitiveness of the VCARB03, Lawson has been the epitome of consistency and measured aggression in the midfield. That consistency has contributed to a strong run of form, keeping him a step ahead of his equally impressive rookie Racing Bulls teammate, Arvid Lindblad.

The F1 2026 season is only Lawson’s second full campaign in the sport, with the true level of his actual experience blurred by the fact that he has taken part in races every year since 2023.

Lawson only has 11 more entries to his name than the likes of Kimi Antonelli, Isack Hadjar, and Gabriel Bortoleto, but those starts in 2023 and ’24 mean the 24-year-old prematurely feels like a veteran.

The sensation of being the ‘old’ hand at Racing Bulls is thus strange for Lawson, who said he doesn’t yet feel like he’s at the point of feeling ‘experienced’ as he spoke to PlanetF1.com in an exclusive interview at the Belgian Grand Prix.

“It is [strange],” he mused, when asked about the weirdness of that juxtaposition between his perceived experience and reality.

“I came into Formula 1 in a very strange way compared to most other people. I came in as a reserve, filling in for some races. I did that sort of for two seasons before I even got my initial shot.

“So yeah, I have a different introduction to F1 than most people, and it’s meant that I’ve actually been in the sport for quite a long time. So I definitely don’t feel very experienced, but I guess maybe I’m viewed that way.”

His experience relative to Lindblad does mean greater expectations of the Kiwi at this point but, if he’s feeling any pressure about being seen as a team leader at Racing Bulls, he’s not feeling it.

He has also risen to those lofty expectations, delivering for the team at a time when his future is yet to be fully determined.

“It’s not really something I think about too much,” he said.

“I just focus on myself really, and try to extract everything out of the car.

“I think, if I do a good job of that, it helps the team. It’s not something I’m really focused on or thinking about – the fact that maybe I need to try and lead or do something like that.”

With Lindblad’s rookie season also proving impressive, the dynamic of Lawson holding his own against the next young and hungry driver in the Red Bull ranks has been fascinating.

It’s been a remarkably harmonious relationship so far, given how the duo is usually in close proximity to each other on track. But, aside from some minor tension after the Austrian Grand Prix, in which a misunderstanding over team instructions could have spilled over into something more serious, Lawson spoke glowingly about his teammate and their working relationship.

“Honestly, it’s been good. It’s been a good year; we’ve done well, and I think we’ve worked very, very well together,” he said.

“Obviously, for Arvid coming in for his first year, he’s had a lot to absorb, and he’s done a good job with that.

“So it’s meant that we’ve been able to work together and help develop and push this car forward. We have good, sort of similar feedback, and I think it works well together to do that. So it’s been good. It’s been working very, very well.”

The positivity of Lawson’s 2026 has been underlined by headline results such as his sixth-place finishes in Monaco and at Silverstone, as well as seventh-place finishes in China and Canada. But, while he’s thrilled with the relative competitiveness of his car, the new regulations have meant the cars are “not super exciting” from a driving perspective.

“It’s working very, very well,” he said of the car.

“The car is working very well, and I’m super stoked, happy, and proud of all the efforts from the team because they’ve done an exceptional job extracting everything out of this car and continue to extract everything out of this car, which has been really, really good.

“But, in terms of pure enjoyment out of driving the car, not that much. From a pure enjoyment factor of the car itself, they’re not super exciting to drive, but it’s working very, very well.

“Compared to other people’s cars, our car is very balanced at the moment, and it’s working very well. But they don’t corner as well as last year. They don’t go as fast as last year.

“I’m enjoying the results that we’re getting, and we’re extracting a lot out of a car that’s not very fun.”

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With the eight drivers from the leading four teams occupying their expected positions, consolidating his current position is realistically the most Lawson can hope for in the second half of the championship, as well as continuing to try helping Racing Bulls secure fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship.

“For us, we try to extract everything out of the car each weekend,” he said.

“If we do that, it normally puts us in the back end of the top 10, fighting for that P9, P10, and then, if something happens to the top teams, we get to benefit from that.

“The more performance we get out of the car, the closer we get to those front teams as well. To be honest, there have been times we’ve not been too far away, which is really positive.

“But we’re still very realistic and know that there’s a lot to find to do that; we’re trying not to get ahead of ourselves, and we’re focused on beating the midfield right now.”

With Lawson brimming with confidence and delivering upon his potential, there are still some questions that need answering over the coming weeks and months, given that his seat at Racing Bulls is yet to be confirmed for next season.

But his current, relentless delivery of top-level results is all in marked contrast to the pallid driver who returned to the team after his ill-fated foray to the Red Bull team at the start of 2025. In theory, it was a move that was too much, too soon as Lawson was placed alongside Max Verstappen, only to struggle to escape Q1.

Whether time would have steadied the ship or allowed him to find his feet at the senior team is a question that can’t be answered now, but, the experienced Yuki Tsunoda fared little better across the rest of the season. It’s fair to say, however, that Lawson’s career momentum has recovered since the decision to move him back to Racing Bulls.

While things are positive now, his career is in a different place to where he might have anticipated at the end of 2024 when he got the call-up to Milton Keynes. But does he believe that F1 has been fair to him?

“Life’s not fair,” he said.

“Everybody thinks that life’s not fair, so you’re always going to find stuff difficult or think that, in situations, things won’t be to you.

“But, at the end of the day, I’m in Formula 1, and I think compared to a lot of guys… for a lot of drivers, I’m in Formula 1, and I should be.

“I think, with everything that happened last year, I was very lucky to still be driving, and I still have that opportunity now, and that’s what I’m trying to manage.”

That rebuild of momentum has come about by way of Lawson’s mental resilience, a polite belligerence that made him a stand-out and resulted in him getting the nod to join the senior team in the first place – the feeling that Lawson’s toughness and self-confidence made him an ideal partner to go up against the inevitability of Max Verstappen’s domineering approach.

Think back to his willingness to show his displeasure with Sergio Perez, a stablemate, and Fernando Alonso, a two-time F1 World Champion. It’s clear that this headstrong edge to his personality isn’t one that he wants to put a lid on, and nor should he.

Some view such traits as weakness, others as a strength; personality, in itself, is a subjective topic. But what does the man himself think? Does he believe that this attribute of his personality is a weapon in his armoury?

“I think maybe it’s more important now,” he said.

“The sport, I think, has changed a lot. There’s a lot of pressure. Obviously, driving in Formula 1, there are a lot of opinions and eyes, especially in Red Bull, especially from a young age.

“So, yeah, you sort of have to almost not care about certain things to be able to perform at the top in the sport, and that’s something I’ve learned over the last couple of years.

“I probably came into the sport, like most people, caring a lot and trying to make everybody happy, but you can’t.

“So the only thing that’s important is what I do in the car. So I’m just focused on putting all my energy into that, and that’s it.

“You just can’t make everybody happy. On any level, in any industry, there’s going to be people that don’t like you.”

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