Lawson would, in theory, receive a wildcard to race at the Taupō Super 440 from April 10 to 12, and the Christchurch Super 440 from April 17 to 19, provided a seat was made available for him.
The Herald understands Lawson will be in New Zealand briefly during the Formula One break to renew his passport, but will return to Europe before the Taupō weekend.
It is unclear whether Lawson would be able to extend his stay in order to compete, if a spot were to be made available for him and the opportunity interested him, considering commitments to Racing Bulls.
Another potential roadblock would come in the form of finding the Kiwi a race seat.
While Supercars would be within their rights to ask one of the 13 teams to vacate one of their cars, only one – Triple Eight Racing – is backed by Red Bull.
Given both Broc Feeney and Will Brown are considered championship contenders for the 2026 title, it is highly unlikely either would be prepared to sit out a race weekend and therefore give up points to count towards their season total.
Lawson has entered Formula One’s break off the back of two positive race weekends.
In China he claimed seventh-placed finishes in both the sprint and grand prix, and backed those drives up with ninth in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka last weekend.
All up, Lawson sits 10th in the Formula One drivers’ championship, with 10 points from three race weekends, six points of rookie Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.