has had an impressive rookie season<\/a> and is set to step up and join Verstappen at Red Bull.<\/p>\nHadjar’s news today, all but ends the speculation.<\/p>\n
“I know I will be on the grid next year so it is a big step (in my career),” Hadjar told media on the eve of Qatar.<\/p>\n
“I’m very happy, it finally ends all the questions (about his future).”<\/p>\n
No comment from Lawson, however.<\/p>\n
Lawson has had a strong season scoring points in six races with a best finish of fifth at the Azerbaijan GP. He is 14th in the team standings, just 13 points outside the top ten.<\/p>\n
More importantly, he has scored more points than Tsunoda.<\/p>\n
He did let a great points scoring opportunity slip last weekend, when he failed to convert a sixth place start on the grid into a top ten finish.<\/p>\n
![\"Liam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4JXK680_PSNEWZ_00317941_0078_jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nLiam Lawson during the Las Vegas Grand Prix, 2025.
\nPhoto: Joao Filipe \/ PHOTOSPORT\n<\/p>\n
It is likely that Red Bull have already decided their line-up, but a good showing in Qatar this weekend would certainly help Lawson’s chances.<\/p>\n
This weekend there is a 25 lap limit for each set of tyres after tyre suppliers Pirelli voiced concerns about driver safety. Meaning there will be at least two pit stops.<\/p>\n
Pirelli said last year’s race, which didn’t have a lap limit, showed high levels of tyre wear, while car cars suffered punctures.<\/p>\n
Lawson said night races are his favourite.<\/p>\n
“I’m excited to be heading to a very high speed track here in Qatar. The mandatory pit stops this weekend make the race more interesting, meaning our strategy will be more important than ever.<\/p>\n
“It’s the last Sprint weekend of the season too, so there’s more opportunity for points as we fight for our position in the Constructors’.<\/p>\n
“We’ll be taking our learnings from Las Vegas to bring everything together this weekend.”<\/p>\n
Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand F1 driver Liam Lawson. Photo: MPS AGENCY \/ PHOTOSPORT The clock is ticking for Liam Lawson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-156733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}