Liam Lawson has completed arguably the best race weekend of his career, and banked a second points finish in as many days at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
Having taken seventh in Saturday’s sprint race, Lawson repeated the dose 24 hours later, and banked another six points towards the 2026 championship.
Down a set of hard tyres after the sprint race, all of Lawson’s racecraft was on show. The 24-year-old completed 47 laps on a single set of hard tyres to complete a one-stop strategy, and finish as the best of Red Bull’s four car stable.
Lawson’s teammate Arvid Lindblad came home 12th, despite a phenomenal 41-lap stint on a set of hard tyres before he took his first stop, while Red Bull stablemate Isack Hadjar finishing eighth.
Making Lawson’s result all the more impressive, the Kiwi was hindered when his one and only pit stop on lap 10 was hampered by a safety car on lap 11, giving the cars ahead of him an advantage and effective free tyre change under yellow flags.
But showing all the experience of a driver in his fourth season of Formula One, Lawson kept his head down and got to the end without incident, and finished the weekend with eight points to his name.
Only Williams’ Carlos Sainz in ninth made up more places in the grand prix than Lawson, who qualified 14th on Saturday.
Having become the youngest driver to take pole position for a grand prix 24 hours earlier, Kimi Antonelli turned starting first into his maiden victory, continuing 2026’s trend of Mercedes winning every race.
Antonelli’s only blemish came on lap 54 of 56, when he ran too deep at the turn 14 hairpin, but still came home with more than seven seconds to spare. The 19-year-old is not the youngest race-winner, with that record still belonging to Max Verstappen.
Teammate George Russell finished second to complete Mercedes’ second one-two in as many grands prix, while Lewis Hamilton came home third for his maiden grand prix podium for Ferrari.
Eight points across the weekend takes Lawson to ninth in the drivers championship, level with Verstappen, while Racing Bulls are sixth in the constructors after Lindblad’s eighth in Melbourne.
Russell holds a four point lead over Antonelli at the top of the standings, while Mercedes hold a 31-point advantage over Ferrari in the constructors.
Formula One now takes a week off, before returning for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka at the end of this month, as the final race before a five-week break after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia grands prix were cancelled due to the Iran war.
After qualifying 14th, Lawson’s chances of gaining positions were boosted before lights out when neither McLaren car was able to start, as two of four cars that retired after the formation lap.
And as both Red Bull cars struggled at the start - Verstappen slow off the line and Hadjar collided with Haas’ Ollie Bearman - Lawson climbed to seventh before the end of the first lap.
With more than a second between himself and the two Alpines, the Lawson’s biggest threat came from behind. The Kiwi’s medium tyres left him vulnerable to drivers on the more stable hards, which told on lap six when Haas’ Esteban Ocon got around Lawson.
On lap nine, Lawson was attacked by his teammate, as Lindblad attempted a late braking overtake into the turn 14 hairpin, but ran wide to lose eighth place, before taking it outright one lap later, as the Kiwi headed for the pits.
Swapping mediums for hards, Lawson emerged from the pits in 15th, but immediately gained a place when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was forced to retire and trigger a safety car.
By the time the safety car came in on lap 13, Lawson had climbed to 12th, and had five drivers in front of him yet to stop for the first time.
Lawson climbed to 11th with an overtake on the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, but lost the place by the end of lap 14 after a short tussle with Verstappen, who himself climbed into the points.
With the pair of Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Lindblad ahead of him, yet to pit, Lawson needed only be patient before he could climb into the top 10 once more, which came on lap 22 when he got past his teammate by overtaking him into the hairpin.
By lap 36, Lawson had climbed back to eighth, when Ocon, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Hulkenberg all stopped, and set the Kiwi up to complete his one-stop strategy.
With 20 laps remaining, Lawson’s hold of eighth was under threat from Hadjar, whose tyres were one lap fresher, as the Kiwi’s former teammate tried to put himself into position to pass.
Lawson gained one final place on lap 46, when Verstappen was forced to retire with an electrical issue, 11 years to the day since his Formula One debut for Toro Rosso.
Did not finish: Max Verstappen – Red Bull, Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin, Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
Did not start: Oscar Piastri – McLaren, Lando Norris – McLaren, Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi, Alex Albon – Williams
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.