With two races to secure his future in Formula One, there are worse places Liam Lawson could be than Austin.
Considering Red Bull have set themselves the target of next weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix to finalise 2026’s driver pairings for both teams, including sister outfit Racing Bulls, there is plenty at stake for all contenders.
As Red Bull continue to seek a worthy partner for current world champion Max Verstappen, Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar is widely understood to be the front runner.
That effectively leaves the Kiwi competing with Yuki Tsunoda, who replaced him at Red Bull just two grands prix into 2025, to secure the final place at Racing Bulls, with rookie Arvid Lindblad to be promoted from Formula Two.
And if these next two weekends do boil down to a Lawson v Tsunoda scenario, the Kiwi can bank on past results to keep his nose in front.
Last year, the US Grand Prix at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas marked Lawson’s fulltime Formula One debut, after he replaced Australian Daniel Ricciardo at Racing Bulls.
Even with an inherited engine penalty, Lawson was able to turn a 19th placed start into a ninth-placed finish, and at the time equal his best result.
The races that followed saw Lawson promoted to partner Verstappen at Red Bull to start 2025, before he was demoted following tough races in Melbourne and Shanghai.
Since then, Lawson has rebuilt at Racing Bulls, and sits 14th in the drivers championship, notably taking fifth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last month.
But with that in mind, Lawson asserts he’s looking forward and not backwards.
“It’s been a crazy year,” said Lawson. “It’s hard to reflect on it, honestly. Maybe I will at the end of the year.
“The sport moves so fast that you just roll with it, at this point now, I couldn’t even remember everything that happened in detail.
“I’m just happy to be here, it’s an exciting race [and] one that I enjoyed last year.”
The Herald understands Lawson remains in front of Tsunoda in the race for the Racing Bulls seat, and will likely remain with his current side in a leadership role once Formula One’s new regulations kick in next year.
However, Tsunoda’s relationship with Red Bull chief executive and team principal Laurent Mekies could just throw the Japanese driver a lifeline, even as his commercial backer Honda prepares to leave to join Aston Martin in 2026.
One major factor in Lawson’s favour, though, are his results in 2025. On three occasions this year, Lawson has achieved career-best finishes.
From eighth in Monaco, to sixth in Austria, and then fifth in Baku, Lawson has shown he can adapt, if not thrive in motorsport’s pinnacle.
Tsunoda on the other hand, has finished in the points five times – the same number as Lawson – but trails the Kiwi by 10 points in the standings, in what is supposed to be a superior car.
However, 26 of Lawson’s 30 points have come since Austria, where an upgrade saw Racing Bulls’ VCARB02 changed to better suit the Kiwi’s driving style.
And considering Racing Bulls’ battle to seal fifth in the championship will take priority over Lawson’s fight to secure his own future, sitting 30 points back from Williams, the Kiwi is hopeful to continue his upward trajectory.
“We’re trying to score points this weekend,” he added. “It’s very close at the moment, we need to extract everything [from the car].
“[The car] was good here last year, we found some big steps during the weekend. This year, we’ve found a lot more.
“Everybody else has as well, so we don’t know how we stack up. But it should suit our car.”
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.