The most recent Spanish Grand Prix showed Liam Lawson's trademark aggression is not going away. Is it starting to pay off?
Because it is fair to say Lawson has forged an elbows out reputation over his first 20 grands prix in F1. Over his second, six-race stint in 2024 the New Zealander drew the ire of Fernando Alonso in Austin, and the following week that of then-Red Bull seat rival Sergio Perez.
Lawson's trademark aggression continued this year when he returned to Racing Bulls after his short-lived Red Bull spell. He received two time penalties in Bahrain for contact with Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg, and then lost a points finish in the Miami Grand Prix sprint after colliding with Alonso, earning himself another time penalty to bring his penalty points total up to six. There was also a penalty in Jeddah for leaving the track while passing Jack Doohan.
Speaking to Autosport after Miami, Racing Bulls team boss Laurent Mekies admitted that Lawson's aggression levels needed to be slightly reined in as the team was "paying a bit of a price for it", but he felt it was also part of his recovery process after two disastrous Red Bull weekends.
"We are coming from a sequence where the elbows out [attitude] had more disadvantages than advantages in the last few races," Mekies acknowledged when pressed on the subject. "When he came back to us, we were actually quite happy to see him going through the field flexing his muscles. Fine, get the penalty, but he was trying to get back on his feet and get in the fighting spirit again. So, it was good that we came back with that approach to turn the page.
"I think we are now paying a little bit of a price for it, like in Miami, a brilliant sprint race from P14 to P7. The penalty for the contact with Alonso was hurting. We were quite happy to have him with that spirit, and now we probably need tune it down a bit."
That Spanish Grand Prix didn't necessarily show evidence of any aggression being pared back, though. Lawson was in the wars again as he tagged Alonso at the start and clipped Haas driver Oliver Bearman on lap 31, two incidents he escaped punishment for.
There was also a two-pronged Turn 1 clash with Alex Albon, with Lawson first lunging down the inside to force Albon off before he successfully passed the Williams man around the outside with a clean move, only for Albon to understeer into him and suffer damage.
Lawson hasn't particularly endeared himself to his colleagues, but he has stated several times that his style of racing won't change as his elbows out approach is also what helped get him to where he is, and it did help him get on Red Bull's radar in the first place.
“My attitude towards racing and how I approach races in Formula 1 won't change, that's how I'll always be," Lawson told Autosport later last year. "But at the same time there's things in there if I make mistakes I'll always learn from them."
Circumstances, some of his own making, are further forcing the 23-year-old to take chances. As he gets up to speed at Racing Bulls alongside the highly impressive rookie Isack Hadjar, Lawson has qualified out of position more than he would have liked, not helped by two technical issues in qualifying in Bahrain and Miami.
In a tight midfield, that has meant he has left himself with a lot of work to do on Sunday to get back into the points. At times things have gotten clumsy, but with a car that is not generally the fastest on the straights Lawson has had a tendency to go for lunges from far back, which is a phenomenon that is basically encouraged by the current racing guidelines that emphasise being ahead at the apex.
Lawson's Albon duel has shown it can also pay off, with a late safety car robbing him of a chance to hold back Alonso and score his second consecutive points finish, and his gritty drive earned a thumbs up from the team.
"At the end of the day, I like racing drivers," Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer told Autosport after the Barcelona race. "If there's a gap, they should go for it. But both guys kept it, I think, very clean and fair, so I'm happy with it."
At the very least there have been more signs that after not having tested for Racing Bulls and having had to deal with a bruising Red Bull spell, Lawson and his side of the garage are starting to put together cleaner weekends to match high-flying Hadjar. That will be crucial for Racing Bulls if it is to stay in a close midfield fight against Williams, Haas, and Alpine, along with recently upgraded car performance from the likes of Aston Martin and Sauber as well.
"It's going to be very tough until the very end," Bayer nodded. "You saw Sauber scoring 10 points. We're two points ahead of Haas now. It will be a tough fight, but we're back towards the top of that midfield. Now we have lots of tracks coming which Isack doesn't know. But for the time being, that hasn't seemed to worry him too much! It will be a good year."
