![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/30-Liam-Lawson-Baku-2025-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\nShould we be surprised by Visa Cash App Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson and his fifth place at the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday.\u00a0 Having set the third fastest time in qualifying (Q3), the Kiwi driver put in a genuinely solid performance to finish in fifth position, his best finish so far in in 28 F1 races.<\/p>\n
After a luck-less start to 2025 with two races driving for the Oracle Red Bull Racing team and being teammate to Max Verstappen, his demotion to Racing Bulls has helped to define the talent that we know he, and his stakeholders, have in him.<\/p>\n
Since moving to Racing Bulls, after the Chinese Grand Prix, Lawson has slowly and confidently been building and collecting points.<\/p>\n
Was \/Baku a career-defining performance?\u00a0 No, not necessarily because it was no surprise.\u00a0 We know that the Racing Bulls car is a top-performing mid-pack contender.\u00a0 Outside of the McLaren Team, arguable it is one of the most consistent performing cars this season.\u00a0 Verstappen\u2019s Red Bull Racing car has been hot and cold, as have the Ferrari, Williams, Mercedes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe the surprise is our own confidence, or lack of it, in his ability to perform consistently at this top level.\u00a0 Arguably, in the lower categories of Formula 2 and 3, it was more of a lottery.\u00a0 In both these categories there appears to be different variables at play that you just don\u2019t see in Formula One.<\/p>\n
For a controlled category (F2 and 3), it appears to be the variables outside of the car itself that can determine the outcome.\u00a0 Can you ever be certain of predicting the podium of F2 or F3 races?\u00a0 So, why not?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There can be a certain amount of talent mixed with desperation to impress knowing that they have to be better than the rest.\u00a0 This can lead to unnecessary risks which pay off or fall apart.<\/p>\n
Whereas, in Formula One, within reason there is more certainty.\u00a0 We soon know, after several races which teams have the most competitive package and are likely to win races or be on the podium.\u00a0 Those that don\u2019t, there is still interest in the mid-field battle, the best of the rest.\u00a0 Not necessarily so in F2 or F3.<\/p>\n
There seems to be a stronger element of respect amongst the F1 grid. Each driver has earned their place regardless of money or politics.\u00a0 While there may be others with more talent who haven\u2019t made it, you need talent not just to drive a F1 car but to galvanise the investment from a team to keep you in the car.<\/p>\n
Crashing is not necessarily about the price of repairs, it is also the cost on the team, resources, manpower, loss of key constructor points, pride and the long-term impact on a driver\u2019s career at that level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lawson currently sits 13th on the drivers\u2019 points table with 30-points.\u00a0 Teammate Isack Hadjar is just nine- points ahead in ninth overall, hence a top ten finish for Lawson is easily on the cards.\u00a0 The gap between ninth and eighth is a bigger leap with Albon on 70, 31-points ahead of Hajar.<\/p>\n
The double points finish for the Racing Bulls team in Baku has seen them jump to sixth on the Constructor\u2019s Points table, ten more than Aston Marting Racing.\u00a0 There is a 31-point gap ahead to fifth-placed Williams that may be too hard to bridge.<\/p>\n
So, what are our expectations for Lawson heading into the final seven Grand Prix of the 2025 season.\u00a0 Two come to mind.\u00a0 Beat your teammate in both qualifying and race results and finish in the essential points scoring top ten.\u00a0 That will not only secure a seat in 2026 but will consolidate a long-term future in the category.\u00a0 Other teams will take note and a driver\u2019s \u2018value\u2019 will increase.<\/p>\n
With Lawson there is an air of confidence and certainty which has grown since swapping into a Racing Bulls car.\u00a0 Having \u2018made-it\u2019 into Formula One, it is now about cementing his place on the grid and targeting the next stage of spending time on the podium.\u00a0 History will take care of itself.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Should we be surprised by Visa Cash App Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson and his fifth place at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,54428,9870,817,813,835,816,3352,111770,111771,946,85,111772],"class_list":["post-171275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-azerbaijan-grand-prix","tag-baku","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-one","tag-formula1","tag-liam-lawson","tag-oracle-red-bull-racing","tag-rb-f1-team","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sports","tag-talkmotorsport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}