Permane feels Lawson is starting to overcome his inconsistency in qualifying.
The Kiwi made Q3 (the top 10 in qualifying) eight times in 2025, but also failed to make it out of Q1 (the first, full qualifying field) seven times.
“I’ve said it many times and I’ll say again with Liam, I see immense talent there,” Permane told Speedcafe. “Some of his performances last year were outstanding. What he needs to do, and what he is doing so far, is eliminate mistakes.
“We can’t be qualifying third on the grid one weekend and then out in Q1 the following weekend, and he knows that. And he’s working hard to ensure that doesn’t happen.
“And if he doesn’t improve his top level, if he just eliminates the bad level and lifts everything up to what we know he’s capable of, that will already be a fantastic step. And that’s the next thing to build.
“But I’d much rather he works on, not works on the absolute pace, because I think that’s there, it’s working on the consistency, which he’s doing.”
Lawson qualified eighth for the 2026 season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but had a problem with his car during launch and finished 13th. In Shanghai and Japan, he made it into Q2 and went on to grab points.
He has admitted that he is still getting used to the new regulations this year but has generally been happy with the reliability of his car and the race strategy from the team.
While it has been a positive start, Lawson is looking for more.
“Going forward, the goal is to find more performance in the car, and once we do that, we’ll be in a strong position. We’ve been able to score in every race this year, which gives us a good platform to keep building.”
The next race is in Miami on May 3.
– RNZ
