Lawson creates Kiwi F1 history with points finish in Spanish Grand Prix

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Author: Alex Powell,
Publish Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2026, 8:48am

Liam Lawson has achieved his best result as a Red Bull driver, and taken sixth place at Formula One’s Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid to create Kiwi history for good measure.

Having started eighth, the Kiwi made up two places over the course of 57 laps in the Spanish capital, as the new Circuito de Madring proved difficult for drivers to overtake on.

While the eight points gained won’t seem like much in the context of the season, Lawson’s haul from Madrid takes his season tally to 59, and sets a new mark for the most by a New Zealander in a single Formula One campaign.

Lawson’s 59 points take him clear of the 51 achieved by Denny Hulme’s 1967 campaign – admittedly under a much more conservative 9-6-4-3-2-1 scoring system.

Regardless, for a driver yet to cement his place on the 2027 Formula One grid, Lawson laying claim to a New Zealand record is still plenty for the 24-year-old to write home about.

Sixth in Madrid also sees Lawson better the seventh he achieved in Zandvoort last month, in his third – and likely final – race deputising for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull.

“From where we started, it was an okay race,” he said. “It would have been nice to qualify higher yesterday, that was a little bit frustrating on my behalf.

“I felt much more comfortable in the car. Overall I feel good. [There are] some things that are closer to my car that feel a bit nicer to drive now.

“To switch between cars now is not ideal, but now that I’ve spent a bit of time in this car, I’m a bit more comfortable.”

At the front of the grid, Kimi Antonelli benefited from an early virtual safety car (VSC) to claim his eighth win of the season, and extend his lead at the top of the world championship to 81 points from teammate George Russell.

Polesitter Lando Norris was the unfortunate victim of that same VSC. Having been untroubled from lights out, the timing of the VSC saw Norris miss the pit window by a matter of seconds, and left the world champion powerless as drivers gained an effective free stop on a slowed track, to see him settle for third.

Lawson’s temporary teammate Max Verstappen came home second, and equalled his best result of a season in which he’s yet to claim the chequered flag.

Meanwhile, further back, Lawson’s fulltime teammate Arvid Lindblad came home ninth to claim two points for Racing Bulls’ challenge for fifth in the constructors championship – a challenge hurt by the Alpine of Franco Colapinto finishing seventh.

Racing Bulls’ lead in the race for fifth has been cut to just nine points from Alpine, after Lawson’s replacement at Racing Bulls, Yuki Tsunoda, came home 14th.

Formula One will now have a week off before returning for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, where Lawson is expected to return to Racing Bulls once Hadjar is passed fit from a hairline fracture in his wrist suffered during the summer break.

Liam Lawson drives for Red Bull at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid. Photo / Red Bull

Starting eighth, and with the inside line into turn one as the lights went out, Lawson lost a place to Colapinto, but managed to get around the McLaren of Oscar Piastri to hold his position at the end of the first lap.

It wasn’t until Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari suffered brake failure and went too deep at turn 13 that Lawson moved up into seventh, as the fight to get around Colapinto continued.

It took until lap 10 for Lawson to win that battle, as the Kiwi braked late into turn five before accelerating out to complete the overtake.

On lap 14, that gap closed when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll hit the barrier at turn 20 to trigger a virtual safety car. However, Red Bull’s decision to leave Lawson on track instead of stopping left the Kiwi at risk later in the race.

As racing resumed, Lawson found himself between the two McLarens, as Norris pulled further and further clear, while Piastri battled to catch the Red Bull after suffering front wing damage on the opening lap.

Russell pitting for a second time on lap 29 saw Lawson climb to fifth, as he began to overtake the backmarkers, including the Cadillac of Sergio Perez, who appeared to halt the Kiwi into turn one.

Lawson managed to hold Russell off for seven laps, before the Mercedes’ faster tyres told, as the Kiwi came under threat from Piastri, who managed to cut the gap to less than a second.

On lap 43, McLaren pitted Piastri in an attempt to undercut Lawson, only to emerge in 11th after a slower stop to adjust his damaged front wing.

As he stopped two laps later, that traffic between himself and Piastri worked in Lawson’s favour, as he emerged in seventh with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly ahead of him still yet to stop.

But Lawson didn’t even need that stop, as he overtook Gasly on lap 55 to come home sixth, having not finished outside the top 10 in any session over the course of the weekend.