THE FACTS
While you don’t score any Formula One points on a Friday or Saturday, you can definitely lose them – as Liam Lawson found out in Singapore.
Crashes in the second and third practice sessions robbed the Kiwi of vital time on track before qualifying, seeing him start outside the top 10.
And while Racing Bulls might have had the right idea to gamble on a safety car on a street circuit like Singapore, hindsight will always be undefeated.
Here’s what we learned in Singapore.
Not for the first time this season, Lawson was hampered by Racing Bulls leaving his hopes at points to chance.
In Japan, the team hoped for rain, which never arrived. At Monza, Lawson was the only driver to start on soft tyres, looking to cut up the field early, before being asked to finish the race with a more than 40-lap stint on hards.
Teams starting outside the top 10 and risking it all is nothing new. Singapore saw Williams execute Racing Bulls’ plan through Carlos Sainz, going from 18th to points after running one lap longer than Lawson in his first stint.
But the fact that Lawson is continually the Racing Bulls driver who needs to gamble on strategy at all is not a good sign.
It’s been consistent all year that when Lawson starts in the top 10, he has everything he needs to score points.
As soon as he’s able to start doing the same when starting 11th or lower, we’ll start to see Lawson solidify himself as one of the midfield’s front-runners.
The worry is whether or not he’ll get that chance.
It can often feel as though the weekend’s three practice sessions are somewhat of a formality.
Drivers get through as many laps as they can on Friday, and try to get any last minute preparation in before qualifying on Saturday.
But with Lawson’s displays in FP2 and FP3 this weekend, we saw exactly why maximising every second of practice is key.
By hitting the wall at turn 17 on Friday, and turn seven on Saturday, Lawson put himself on the back foot for qualifying.
Those lost laps meant less understanding of the circuit, even if he’d managed a points finish there two years ago.
The fact he was able to advance to Q2, even with the aid of a yellow flag, shows how much potential there was for this weekend.
In the context of the fight for a 2026 seat, this weekend is a hard one to judge.
Judged solely on finishing position, you’d say Lawson let the weekend slip to Yuki Tsunoda. But in reality, it’s far from that simple.
On every metric bar finishing position, Lawson had the better weekend. Even after writing off two practice sessions, the Kiwi still outqualified Tsunoda.
And after losing a place to the Red Bull off the start line, Lawson clawed his way back to 12th, as Tsunoda fell all the way down to 17th after battling the midfield.
All up, while Tsunoda finished ahead of Lawson, he was more than 1m 30s behind teammate Max Verstappen, in the same car.
According to Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko, a decision over the 2026 lineups will be made by the end of this month’s Mexican Grand Prix.
And at this point, you’d think Lawson still has his nose in front, given his superior position in the championship – in an inferior car.
As the paddock arrived in Singapore this week, there was a surprise bit of news, which could play into that fight for 2026 seats.
Current Formula Two and McLaren academy driver Alex Dunne will be released from the team, and is free to look elsewhere.
So far this season, Dunne sits fifth in the Formula Two championship, and has looked solid when given opportunities for McLaren in free practice.
With the path to a McLaren seat blocked by championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, Dunne would only make this move if there was hope of a Formula One seat next year.
At present, only two real options stand out: Alpine and Racing Bulls.
Alpine boss Flavio Briatore has indicated that their 2026 lineup will be finalised by a driver already in their ranks, seeing Franco Colapinto and Paul Aron competing to partner Pierre Gasly.
A move into the Red Bull stable, then, looms as a distinct possibility. Marko is already a known admirer, opening the door even further.
Just in what role, though, is still unknown. Will Dunne be in contention for the 2026 seat at Racing Bulls? Or is he simply there to step into the role vacated when Arvid Lindblad is promoted?
Time will tell.
While Lawson will want to quickly move on from a disappointing weekend, a return to the US will be welcomed.
The Kiwi spends a significant amount of his free time in the States, in his partner Hannah’s home state of California.
On top of that, Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is one of his favourite tracks.
Last year, after qualifying 19th with an engine penalty inherited from Daniel Ricciardo, Lawson was able to finish ninth in a display that had now-former Red Bull boss Christian Horner describing him as “looking like a veteran” in what was just his sixth grand prix.
After two races on street circuits in Baku and Singapore, a trip to Austin and the fast and technical nature of COTA will play to the strengths of many of the drivers on the grid, Lawson among them.
But after a first trip to Singapore since his points finish in 2023 didn’t go to plan, Lawson will now know he has to do more than just turn up at tracks he’s previously succeeded on if he’s to repeat that dose a second time around.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.