Liam Lawson Impresses with Fourth Place Start at Spanish Grand Prix
Liam Lawson walked back into the paddock knowing he’d done enough to turn heads – just not quite enough to join the fight at the very front.
The New Zealander will start the Spanish Grand Prix from fourth on the grid, his second top-10 qualifying in three outings for Red Bull and another sharp reminder to the team’s hierarchy that he belongs in the conversation for 2027.
“We were very competitive through the first part of quali,” he said afterwards. “Unfortunately it just fell away from us in Q3. Everybody else made quite a big step in Q3, and we just missed out. It’s a shame, I think we were very competitive today.”
On a night that may prove to be his last race for the team this season, with Isack Hadjar expected back for Azerbaijan later this month, Lawson again delivered when it mattered – and did it under real pressure.
Norris snatches pole, Antonelli inches behind
At the sharp end, Lando Norris produced a lap of real authority to take pole. The McLaren driver stopped the clock at 1m 31.824s, just 0.011s quicker than championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
The margin was tiny. The statement was not.
Norris had spent much of second practice stuck in the McLaren garage with a gearbox issue, his Saturday rhythm shredded. When it counted, he stitched it all together, hooked up the lap, and shoved his car to the front.
Behind him, Max Verstappen will launch from third, 0.140s off Norris and 0.352s clear of Lawson. The Red Bull pairing line up nose-to-tail, one the temporary stand-in, the other the benchmark of the modern era.
Lawson sharp from the start
Lawson’s night began with a flourish.
One of the last drivers to set a time in Q1, he exploded to the top of the timesheets with a 1m 33.316s, leaving himself a massive 3.728s clear of the drop once the field – minus Haas rookie Ollie Bearman, sidelined after a crash in final practice – had logged their laps.
He didn’t need to go quicker. He did anyway.
A tidier second effort, a 1m 33.310s, sent him through to Q2 as the third-fastest car, the Red Bull looking planted and the Kiwi driving with the calm of a man who knows this is his window to impress.
While Lawson eased through, the home fans were left stunned. Both Spanish drivers – Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso – fell at the first hurdle, knocked out in Q1 to a chorus of disbelief from the grandstands.
Into Q3 with authority
Q2 brought more of the same from Lawson. Again he waited late, again he delivered.
His opening run of 1m 32.874s put him fourth, a comfortable 0.924s clear of the cut line. There was never any real sense he might miss out on the final segment, but he underlined his place with another improvement, a 1m 32.780s that carried him smoothly into Q3 for the second time in his three-race Red Bull stint.
For a driver still technically on audition, it was the kind of clean, controlled session team bosses like to see: no drama, no scruffy laps, no panic.
Q3 slip as rivals find another gear
The final session told a slightly different story.
Lawson’s first attempt in Q3, a 1m 32.633s, left him eighth. He found time on his last run, but not enough to climb the order as others uncorked their best laps when the track was at its quickest. He stayed eighth on the Q3 timesheet, which will translate into fourth on the grid once penalties and positions shake out.
It was the one phase of qualifying where Red Bull seemed to stall while rivals surged.
Still, in the wider picture, the numbers matter. Two top-10 starts in three races, the third compromised only by an engine penalty at Monza, is a powerful line on any driver’s CV – especially one whose immediate future is uncertain.
Teammates and rivals
Around him, the Red Bull and Racing Bulls picture painted an intriguing backdrop.
Verstappen, his temporary teammate, sits in third, close enough to Norris to scent blood on Sunday. Arvid Lindblad kept his consistent run going with the 10th-fastest time, another solid showing that keeps his own stock rising.
Yuki Tsunoda, the man who took Lawson’s old Racing Bulls seat, could do no better than 15th. On a night framed by talk of futures and contracts, that contrast will not go unnoticed in Milton Keynes or Faenza.
The Spanish Grand Prix will light up at 1am Monday (NZT). For Norris, it’s a chance to convert pole into another stride in his title defence. For Antonelli, it’s a shot at the world champion from breathing distance.
For Lawson, starting from the second row in what could be his last Red Bull outing of the year, it’s something else entirely: one more opportunity to turn a strong audition into a long-term seat.
