From the back of the grid at Formula One’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, the 22-year-old put in as close to the perfect race as he could have asked for, to claim ninth place and two points.
With his future yet to be secured beyond the end of 2024, Austin was a huge step in the right direction.
Here’s what we learned at the Circuit of the Americas.
First time’s a fluke, second is consistency.
While finishing ninth is equal to Lawson’s career best, achieved at Singapore last year, the two results couldn’t be more different.
Last year, Lawson’s time in Formula One came as an injury replacement for Daniel Ricciardo. Whatever he did, he had nothing to lose. He wasn’t going to be in the car in 2024, regardless of results.
This time around, though, things are so much different.
Last year saw Lawson jump into the then AlphaTauri off the back of driving in Japan’s Super Formula. This year, he came in cold after being forced to wait in the Racing Bulls garage all year.
Admittedly, he did have a sprint race to get to grips with the car, but make no mistake, the Kiwi shouldn’t have been anywhere near a top 10 finish.
With just six races and three sprints guaranteed, Lawson has given Red Bull a nudge that he’s worth keeping on.
Advantage Lawson in race to partner Verstappen
Read what you want into Lawson not being confirmed beyond 2024. However, the most obvious explanation would be that Red Bull are assessing him for their second seat, next to world champion Max Verstappen.
Sergio Perez’ continued failures this year, sitting a huge 204 points behind his teammate, have left the future of that seat very much up for grabs.
Most significant from today’s result is that Lawson finished ahead of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Like Perez, Tsunoda’s future with Red Bull is also up in the air, given he’s only there to placate engine supplier Honda. However, when Honda leaves for Aston Martin in 2026, Tsunoda will almost certainly follow.
Those factors, compared to Lawson’s long-term value in the sport, should have the Kiwi with his nose in front of his Red Bull stablemates if and when they want to make the change.
Humble in victory
You can take the boy out of New Zealand, but you can’t take New Zealand out of the boy.
From a media standpoint, Lawson’s best quality (off-track at least) is his humility.
So how good was it to hear his post-race audio, where he made sure to thank his team before any major celebrations?
“Good job, thank you everybody,” Lawson said. “It was just a really complete car, so thank you very much for the hard work, and for preparing me for this.
“I appreciate it.”
Battle with Alonso
When Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso made his Formula One debut in 2001, Lawson wasn’t even born. When he won back-to-back titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006, he was 3 and 4 years old respectively.
And yet, as the pair clashed on track twice over the course of the weekend, Lawson came out the victor on both occasions.
In the sprint, Lawson held his own accelerating out of the corner to leave the 43-year-old in his wake, and then did the same in the Grand Prix with a perfectly executed overtake in the DRS zone.
“It’s his career that’s at stake; not mine,” Alonso told Spanish-speaking media after the sprint race. “Liam has six races to prove a lot. It’s probably not the best approach he’s taking.”
Lawson’s response? ”He had a pretty horrible race, so I can understand why he’s upset.”
In a sport that’s built on ego, Lawson getting his elbows out is a huge sign of what he’s capable of.
Racecraft beyond his years
It goes without saying, but this kid can seriously drive.
After his confirmation as a Racing Bulls driver earned, the Herald understands, tens of thousands of abusive messages from Ricciardo fans, Lawson made every single one of them eat their words.
Having inherited an engine penalty from Ricciardo and a 60-place grid penalty as a result, Lawson was at the very least lifted out of 20th position by George Russell being forced to start from pit lane after he crashed out in qualifying.
But from 19th, Lawson did his talking on the track. Racing Bulls’ pit strategy saw Lawson complete 37 laps on the hard tyre, an incredible feat after struggling to get through 19 laps in the sprint race on the medium compound.
However, at no point did Lawson panic or look out of his depth when managing the race, with fuel no issue either.
Now we wait to see if he can back it up in Mexico next week.
