{"id":612202,"date":"2026-09-26T07:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T07:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/612202\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T07:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T07:56:10","slug":"liam-lawson-pins-baku-struggles-on-frustrating-area-were-a-lot-worse-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/612202\/","title":{"rendered":"Liam Lawson pins Baku struggles on ‘frustrating’ area: ‘We’re a lot worse now’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liam Lawson has pointed to Racing Bulls’ straight-line struggles as a “frustrating” shortcoming during qualifying in Baku.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Faenza-based squad has often been the benchmark team in the midfield this year with impressive form in both qualifying and race trim.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

However, it was unable to get itself involved in the fight for the top 10 on Friday during qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with both Lawson and team-mate Arvid Lindblad failing to get inside the top 10.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

While Lawson was content with the execution of his lap, he stated he was let down by the car’s straight-line speed.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

“The lap was very good up until the last couple of corners, and I just struggled with overheating,” Lawson told media including RacingNews365.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

“I didn’t get a tow as well, which is really powerful here.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

“Especially for us this weekend, we’ve been pretty slow down the straights. It’s frustrating.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

“I actually think we’ve done quite a good job with the car and looking back to some tracks earlier in the year, or tracks where we’ve been quite competitive, I actually feel like we’ve made a step with the car.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

“We’re just a lot worse now down the straights compared to some of the other teams with other power units, especially on these tracks with long straights.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty frustrating.”\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

[Article continues below]\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLawson sets sights on Baku points<\/p>\n

Lawson ended the session in 12th place, but has already been bumped up one spot on the grid due to a penalty for Carlos Sainz.<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

This weekend is the first for Lawson since his return to Racing Bulls, having stood in for Isack Hadjar at the previous three rounds.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

As he takes up a starting position on the fringes of the top 10, the New Zealander has set his sights on adding to his points tally.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

“I’d love to score points,” he said.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

“That’s the target [for the race], but we have got work to do.”\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liam Lawson has pointed to Racing Bulls’ straight-line struggles as a “frustrating” shortcoming during qualifying in Baku. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3518,3521,3519,3522,3520,3517,3515,3513,3516,3514,111,139,69,3512,213],"class_list":["post-612202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-f1-calendar","tag-f1-live","tag-f1-results","tag-f1-standings","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-max-verstappen","tag-motorsport","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612202","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=612202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}