Formula 1 2026 Season Discussion

Forums › Sports › Formula 1 2026 Season Discussion

1 | ... | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | ... | 30

8239 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1390

Trusted

#3511267 14-Jul-2026 15:35

My take on Lawson is same as earlier, in that he's doing more than enough to remain there.
F1 socials are showing a better side of him, and on track he's driving smarter, avoiding trouble and bringing home the points. Again, if he goes it won't be due to anything he has control over.

Helping his cause though is the field is much more spread out this year than last. He's in a great spot to be in the lower points every race as there looks to be quite a gap ahead and behind. In practise F1 has 2 - 3 tiers within it and it's extremely clear at the moment compared to Lawsons Red Balls 2 race stint - where the pack was massively more bunched up near the end of a regulations era vs now at the start of a new one.

If you haven't seen it, google F1.5 which has Lawson in the lead. It's a results list with the top 3-4 teams removed and Lawson is getting more positive exposure on that too. And he just attended Goodwood Festival of Speed too and again did well there.

langi27

685 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 245

#3511269 14-Jul-2026 15:41

Lawson had a cracker of a week at Goodwood, he got to drive 7 amazing cars in particular

1966 Ford GT40 Mk II: The iconic Le Mans-winning car originally driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, and a 2,000BHP Ford Super van.

thermonuclear

774 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 628

#3511291 14-Jul-2026 17:00

Jaxson:

My take on Lawson is same as earlier, in that he's doing more than enough to remain there.

You are 100% correct, by any objective measure Lawson is the superior driver at RB currently. He'd be a bolted-on certainty for RB next year if it were up to us lot here. Personally hoping a messy weather-affected race might see him get a breakthrough podium this season and make his seat undeniable to all. His problem is Tsolov and the fact they've glazed Lindblad for so long that it could be hard for them to admit that he might not be their next Verstappen.

There will be less pressure to make room for Tsolov if he doesn't win F2 this year as they will have an additional option to give him a second season there. He does win it he's either on the bench, into Super Formula, or into an F1 seat. Lindblad is the weakest link, Lawson is able to gap him at will at the moment, the preferential treatment the Brit is getting with the undercut pitstops and late race yellows are the only things making it look closer than it is.

Perhaps Verstappen will jump ship and make things "easier" in that sense. Seems to be a lot of support around at the moment for Lawson to return to Red Bull in some kind of redemption story should Max go. Doubt that will occur if only because Red Bull want a marquee driver despite not having a matching car for a while now.

tdgeek

30189 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9663

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3511372 15-Jul-2026 09:31

thermonuclear:

Jaxson:

My take on Lawson is same as earlier, in that he's doing more than enough to remain there.

You are 100% correct, by any objective measure Lawson is the superior driver at RB currently. He'd be a bolted-on certainty for RB next year if it were up to us lot here. Personally hoping a messy weather-affected race might see him get a breakthrough podium this season and make his seat undeniable to all. His problem is Tsolov and the fact they've glazed Lindblad for so long that it could be hard for them to admit that he might not be their next Verstappen.

There will be less pressure to make room for Tsolov if he doesn't win F2 this year as they will have an additional option to give him a second season there. He does win it he's either on the bench, into Super Formula, or into an F1 seat. Lindblad is the weakest link, Lawson is able to gap him at will at the moment, the preferential treatment the Brit is getting with the undercut pitstops and late race yellows are the only things making it look closer than it is.

Perhaps Verstappen will jump ship and make things "easier" in that sense. Seems to be a lot of support around at the moment for Lawson to return to Red Bull in some kind of redemption story should Max go. Doubt that will occur if only because Red Bull want a marquee driver despite not having a matching car for a while now.

Liam has evolved into a fast, solid, keeps his nose clean so always finishes a race, who always delivers driver. Much Like Perez before he caved.

They will give Lindblad another year, he is just doing enough to hang in, although as you say, his results are a tad inflated. Or more correctly his Brit favouritism cuts him some slack. Liam had the opposite last year.

Let the driver do the talking

JPNZ

1806 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 904

#3512003 17-Jul-2026 08:49

Eau Rouge and Raidillon come at me!! Love Spa and its the longest & one of the most demanding tracks in F1.

FP1 = 11:30pm Friday

FP2 = 3am Saturday

FP3 = 10:30pm Saturday

Qually = 2am Sunday

Race = 1am Monday

Panasonic 65GZ1000, Onkyo RZ730, Atmos 5.1.2, AppleTV 4K, Nest Mini's, PS5, PS3, MacbookPro, iPad Pro, Apple watch SE2, iPhone 15+

thermonuclear

774 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 628

#3512790 20-Jul-2026 13:44

Disappointing weekend for Lawson and not really of his own making. The decision to award the upgrades to Lindblad on the basis of a "quali shootout" at Silverstone is a curious one. You'd surely put them on the car of the driver who has scored twice as many points as his teammate.

Especially when this decision was supposedly made in Austria where Lindblad had gone against team orders and wasn't flavour of the month with many. Looking at it through biased eyes I'm not sure I'm entirely believing of what Permane has had to say about how that decision came about.

Pretty aggressive wheel to wheel racing between the pair of them early in the race. Neither willing to yield and Lawson was saying on his radio that he felt Lindblad had driven into the side of him. Wonder if the contact resulted in some minor damage to the aero performance of Lawson's car even though his engineer was suggesting not. He had a hard day trying to keep the Alpines and Hulkenberg behind him.

Will be really interesting to see if Lawson can reassert his dominance once he gets the same specced car.

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

Mctrixy

10 posts

Wannabe Geek
+1 received by user: 15

#3512794 20-Jul-2026 14:17

thermonuclear:

Disappointing weekend for Lawson and not really of his own making. The decision to award the upgrades to Lindblad on the basis of a "quali shootout" at Silverstone is a curious one. You'd surely put them on the car of the driver who has scored twice as many points as his teammate.

Especially when this decision was supposedly made in Austria where Lindblad had gone against team orders and wasn't flavour of the month with many. Looking at it through biased eyes I'm not sure I'm entirely believing of what Permane has had to say about how that decision came about.

Pretty aggressive wheel to wheel racing between the pair of them early in the race. Neither willing to yield and Lawson was saying on his radio that he felt Lindblad had driven into the side of him. Wonder if the contact resulted in some minor damage to the aero performance of Lawson's car even though his engineer was suggesting not. He had a hard day trying to keep the Alpines and Hulkenberg behind him.

Will be really interesting to see if Lawson can reassert his dominance once he gets the same specced car.

Lawson has had better race pace for most of the season, with the exception of Spain, so the decision to use qualifying as a criteria was quite odd. Considering Lindblad finished just behind Bortoletto, Racing Bulls arguably gave away points this race by giving the upgrade to the junior driver. I think their approach was a mistake in the end.

Regarding their wheel to wheel, I think Lindblad continues to be the more aggressive driver of the two. There has been some pretty close calls already, primarily where Lindblad has drifted wide into Lawson, who has been lucky to come out undamaged ( e.g., Lap 1, Turn 5: https://streamin.link/v/8208e260). I can easily see a crash between the two in the coming races.

The gap between the two Racing Bulls looked to be about 0.6 - 0.8 seconds / lap in qualifying and played out that way over the race. I don't think Lawson could have done anything differently this race. The older spec car was just too slow. On a positive note, the new car looks to be a pretty big upgrade. Hungary is a very different track though - it'll be interesting to see what happens to their pace there.

tdgeek

30189 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9663

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3512802 20-Jul-2026 15:00

Given the consistency that Liam exceeds Lindblad, the upgrades should be very good. Bring Liam back to top dog, plus help the car

This race the car was lacking speed, Liam was exposed, so plenty of good racing to look forward. Tracks matter, but the RB seems good everywhere

Jaxson

8239 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1390

Trusted

#3513156 21-Jul-2026 15:32

Racing Balls now tied on the team standings with Alpine, so close there.

Really is a 3 tier racing series, with long parts of the races showing team mates side by side.
Liam is often stuck in a too far behind the car ahead, but comfortably ahead of the car behind situation.

From above:

Tier 1 is Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull
Tier 2 is basically Racing Balls, Alpine
Tier 3 is everyone else

Hoping to see Aston Martin get a speed increase up towards Tier 2 over the next 2-3 races.
They have upgrades coming but now have concerns they may not have enough spare parts for the new B spec car, so any damage may see them out prematurely.

Ragnor

8294 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 598

Trusted

#3513157 21-Jul-2026 15:36

Another race that showed how lame the 50% hybrid engines are on some tracks, different deployment strategies and deployment unexpectedly not working caused and almost caused several incidents.

I never really liked Russell but he must be gutted with these issues. Kimi making the most of the best car.

McLaren still underperforming.

I'm hoping the upgraded Aston next race gives some joy to Alonso, it's odd to see him trundling at the back.

Stu1

2046 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 580

ID Verified

Subscriber

#3513174 21-Jul-2026 16:18

tdgeek:

Given the consistency that Liam exceeds Lindblad, the upgrades should be very good. Bring Liam back to top dog, plus help the car

This race the car was lacking speed, Liam was exposed, so plenty of good racing to look forward. Tracks matter, but the RB seems good everywhere

liam really needs to get a new team. Typical RB the way that they treat him.

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

thermonuclear

774 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 628

#3513200 21-Jul-2026 17:54

Edd Straw from The Race suggesting Lawson did have partial upgrades at Spa, specifically front brake ducts and the new rear wing. Surely the biggest part of the package though was the reduced air intake on Lindblad's car and resulting improved aero over the wing.

Two of these fans showing the correct judgement. Selling plenty of merch is going to help Lawson's cause.

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
9584 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6560

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3513225 21-Jul-2026 20:40

Unlike all the other drivers who wear theirs the correct way, when Liam is shown making after-race comments on TVNZ news, he’s always wearing a baseball cap backwards.

I’m just an old fart but to me this just makes him look like a gormless street-racer kid. I wish he wouldn’t do that.

Perhaps he doesn’t have a cap sponsor and is trying to make a point.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Dunnersfella

4107 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 892

#3513235 21-Jul-2026 22:16

Lawson's 'logo' is a carton with a backwards baseball cap, so I'm picking he wears the cap for 'fashion' and not because he doesn't have a hat sponsor.

thermonuclear

774 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 628

#3513237 21-Jul-2026 22:38

eracode:

Unlike all the other drivers who wear theirs the correct way, when Liam is being interviewed on TVNZ news after each race, he’s wearing a baseball cap backwards.

I’m just an old fart but to me this just makes him look like a gormless street-racer kid. I wish he wouldn’t do that.

Perhaps he doesn’t have a cap sponsor and is trying to make a point.

100% this. Compare that to Verstappen who always wears team kit in the correct way and promotes the sponsors at all times. Maybe it's part of the "young and irreverent" vibe that Racing Bulls are trying to plug into with a more youthful fanbase, so the team management don't object to it.

But, were I Lawson and still making my way in the sport, I would be using every opportunity possible to push the team brand and sponsors when in front of the cameras. It's really surprising he's not acutely aware of that given he's not a rich kid and has had to work so hard to raise sponsorship to fund his career to this point.

1 | ... | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | ... | 30