Permane on Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls): “He wasn’t the same anymore”

Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson’s still-fledgling Formula 1 career has already held a few surprises in store for the New Zealander. He stepped in as a stand-in on two occasions, racing at the end of the season in both 2023 and 2024. In 2025, he drove for Red Bull Racing, but after just two races his time with the top team was already over. Lawson returned to the sister team, Racing Bulls, from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards. Lawson has now settled in very well there, most recently securing five top-10 finishes in a row from Canada to Great Britain.

However, the back-and-forth during Lawson’s early days in Formula 1 had taken its toll, his team principal Alan Permane now reveals. On the ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcast, he spoke about the period when Lawson switched from Red Bull Racing to Racing Bulls. Permane: “To be honest, he didn’t really say much about it at first; he kept his head down and I’m sure he won’t be grateful to me for telling this story, because I think at the time he said: ‘No, everything’s fine.’”

Support and help

But Permane knew his protégé well and was able to assess the situation: “We knew him, of course, from the previous year, and we realised that he definitely wasn’t the same anymore. I wouldn’t want to say that we built him back up, because that sounds a bit dramatic, but we simply supported him and helped him wherever we could. He works incredibly hard and collaborates incredibly well with his engineering team, and he’s managed it.”

Hard work!

Permane made it clear: “We’re here to help him, but he’s turned things around. He’s worked hard in the simulator. He’s worked hard both off the track and on the track, and I think that’s culminated in some really, really good performances.”

Permane: “What I told him last year was: ‘Forget everything else apart from this,’ especially after we’d confirmed him for 2026. I said: ‘There’s nothing that should be more important than this. Don’t worry about this or that flight, or that hotel, or wanting to go there.’ I said: ‘Forget all that and just focus on this.’»

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Permane praised his protégé: “You can see that in him this year – he’s definitely put it into practice. He’s fully focused – that might sound a bit like a cliché, but it’s true, and I’m really pleased that you can see it in his driving style. He has a much better feel for the car; I think he’s working better and more closely with his engineers. He knows what he wants from the car, and he’s able to drive it in a way that gets the best out of it.” He is a strong tenth in the World Championship standings with 39 points.