Liam Lawson has now scored more points in a single Formula One season than any New Zealander before him, after finishing sixth for Red Bull at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid early this morning, New Zealand time.
The 24-year-old from Pukekohe started eighth at the new Madring circuit and gained two places over 57 laps, crossing the line 86.7 seconds behind winner Kimi Antonelli, according to the official race classification. The eight points took his season total to 59, leaving him ninth in the drivers’ championship.
That beats the 51 points Denny Hulme scored when he won the world title in 1967, which the NZ Herald identifies as the previous best by a New Zealander. The comparison comes with a caveat. In 1967 a win was worth nine points and only the top six finishers scored, as Hulme’s career record shows. Today a win is worth 25 and points go down to 10th place. Hulme is still New Zealand’s only Formula One world champion, but Lawson now holds the biggest single-season tally.
Madrid was Lawson’s best result in three races as a stand-in at Red Bull. He was called up at short notice in August after Isack Hadjar hurt his wrist in training during the summer break. At the time Red Bull said the team “thanks Liam for stepping in on short notice.” Yuki Tsunoda went back to Lawson’s usual seat at Racing Bulls, alongside Arvid Lindblad, who finished ninth in Madrid.
Lawson finished seventh on his Red Bull return at Zandvoort. Monza went badly. An engine change brought a 35-place grid penalty, he started from the pit lane, and contact with Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg damaged his front wing, leaving him 14th. His three races in the car have now earned 14 points. That is a sharp contrast with 2025, when Red Bull promoted him and then dropped him after two races without a point.
In Madrid he started on the hard tyre, planning a long first stint. He had just passed Alpine’s Franco Colapinto for sixth when Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin stopped on lap 15 and brought out a virtual safety car.
“That was frustrating for us. Starting on the hard we obviously planned on going long, and unfortunately the VSC was not ideal. And I just passed Franco as well, and taking a lot of risk to do it. It’s very hard to overtake here. So yeah, not ideal strategy-wise, but I think from where we started a P6 is okay,” Lawson said, as reported by RNZ.
He told RacingNews365 the move on Colapinto had been close to the limit. “I had to take a lot of risk with Franco to make that pass, and I barely, honestly, made the corner without doing track limits.”
His real regret was Saturday. “I think the speed this weekend, especially in quali yesterday was very strong. It’s a shame we couldn’t maximise Q3 because I think we had the potential to have both cars right up there in the top five. But yeah, it’s a good result from where we started. So I’m pretty happy,” he said.
The same virtual safety car settled the race at the front. Lando Norris had led from pole but just missed the pit entry under the caution, while Antonelli pitted and rejoined ahead of Norris and Max Verstappen. Verstappen finished second in the other Red Bull, Norris third, Charles Leclerc fourth and George Russell fifth. It was Antonelli’s eighth win of the season, and the Mercedes driver now leads Russell by 81 points, 292 to 211.
Sixth place was Lawson’s 10th top-10 finish of 2026. It also leaves him 12 points behind Hadjar, who sits eighth in the standings on 71 despite missing the last three rounds.
The next race is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on 26 September, and Red Bull has not yet said who will drive. Team principal Laurent Mekies said during the Madrid weekend that Hadjar would only come back when he felt fully fit. “We have a bit more time before Baku. And honestly there is nothing wrong with his recovery. The recovery is going as planned. Some things take time, and we will take the time to evaluate before Baku and to put him on the sim,” Mekies said, according to PlanetF1.
Beyond this season, Lawson’s seat for 2027 is not settled. Racing Bulls has not named its line-up, and Formula Two leader Nikola Tsolov is in contention. Team principal Alan Permane was asked about it in Madrid. “I think it’s a bit early for us, honestly. We traditionally wait a little bit longer. We’re under no pressure to announce what we’re doing yet next year,” he said, as reported by PlanetF1. “Having said that, I’ve got two fantastic drivers in Liam and Arvid as well, so it’s a nice problem to have.”
Three good weekends in a Red Bull will not settle that decision on their own. But a points record and the best result of his stand-in run make Lawson’s case harder to ignore.
Is Lawson’s 59 points a fair comparison with Hulme’s championship season, and should Red Bull keep him in the car for Baku? Share your view in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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