{"id":406599,"date":"2026-05-01T11:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T11:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406599\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T11:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T11:16:08","slug":"lawson-wants-to-keep-that-momentum-going-as-f1-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406599\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawson wants to ‘keep that momentum going’ as F1 returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson is hoping to \u201ckeep that momentum going\u201d as the sport returns from a five-week break with the Miami Grand Prix this weekend. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been nearly five weeks since cars raced around a Formula 1 track, with the war in Iran cancelling the Middle Eastern Grands Prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. <\/p>\n

Monday marks the fifth running of the Miami Grand Prix in Florida. <\/p>\n

Asked if he was feeling confident heading into the next race, the Racing Bulls driver said he would \u201ctry and do the best job I can\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cFormula 1 is very much a sport of variables. There\u2019s a lot that has to happen to have a successful weekend and a successful year, and I think this year has been working out quite well for us. <\/p>\n

\"Racing<\/p>\n

Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson of New Zealand during the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a good start, a lot of opportunity with these new cars, trying to be on top of it, so we\u2019ll try and keep that momentum going.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lawson was having a strong season before the unplanned break, scoring points in both the race and the sprint in China<\/a> and at the Japanese Grand Prix. He sits 10th in the driver\u2019s championship standings with 10 points, six ahead of rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad. <\/p>\n

The race in Miami will be a chance for drivers, teams, and fans to see how the grid has used their time off to improve and adjust. <\/p>\n

Lawson said about the break: \u201cIt was probably quite useful for a lot of the teams, for us to look over the first few races, to prepare for, obviously, this.”<\/p>\n

Racing Bulls Team Principal Alan Permane said last week the team had a “pretty decent” upgrade planned for Bahrain, which would now be used in Miami. The team will also bring a special yellow livery to Monday’s race. <\/p>\n

Asked about how he felt about upgrades made to the car over the break, Lawson said: \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to know at this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re definitely positive, but I think a lot of teams are going to be bringing stuff here. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo to know exactly how it\u2019s going to be is very tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawson said it had been a \u201ctricky start to the year\u201d, with new regulations<\/a> bringing in entirely new cars. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis part of the year is really about development, so everything we\u2019re bringing, we\u2019re trying to bring better stuff than everybody else, and we\u2019ll see how we go.\u201d <\/p>\n

The new regulations have sparked criticism from both drivers and fans. It mainly centres on the car\u2019s 50\/50 power split between the battery and the engine. Fans and drivers are split on whether the regulations have turned the sport into a battle over who can manage their battery best, rather than pure racecraft. Former champion Max Verstappen described the regulations as \u201canti-racing\u201d. <\/p>\n

The new cars had caused differences in speed, with drivers warning that it could result in big crashes. That happened in Japan, when Haas driver Oliver Bearman flew into a barrier at 306km\/h while trying to avoid Alpine\u2019s Franco Colapinto. <\/p>\n

Over the break, F1\u2019s governing body, the FIA, refined some of the rules<\/a>, which included reducing the amount of electrical energy that could be harvested on a qualifying lap and increasing the rate at which energy could be recovered on straights. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are quite certain these changes will be a step in the right direction, and a reasonably significant one,\u201d the FIA\u2019s single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis, told reporters. <\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a man\u2019s arrested after the abduction and death of a young girl in Australia, and new road safety warnings amid a spike in deaths. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson is hoping to \u201ckeep that momentum going\u201d as the sport returns from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,64,69,213],"class_list":["post-406599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-north-america","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406599","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=406599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}