The New Zealander enjoyed a turbulent year that began with a short-lived promotion to Red Bull before he returned to the junior team. After a slow start back at Racing Bulls, Lawson found consistency and form, scoring 38 points across seven points finishes, including a career-best fifth place in Baku.

Earlier in the week, he was confirmed at Racing Bulls for another season, with British rookie Arvid Lindblad joining as his teammate, while Isack Hadjar moves up to Red Bull.

“Yeah, it’s very exciting,” he told Speedcafe about his confirmation at the team for 2026.

“It’s obviously, it’s been a very busy year. A very intense year. And to come into this weekend now with obviously that knowledge of next year as well makes it a bit nicer.

“I’ll try and enjoy it. And then I’m excited to get to work on the challenges of next year.”

Lawson said he received official confirmation of his 2026 seat from team principal Alan Permane after the Qatar Grand Prix.

“I sat down with Alan, which is cool for him to be able to tell me as well that we will obviously working together next year,” he said.

Reflecting on his 2025 campaign, Lawson said the season was largely positive despite its ups and downs.

“Yeah, it’s been very, very positive in a lot of ways. But I think at the same time, obviously you’re never gonna have a season with… you’re eventually gonna have a bad race,” he said.

“But obviously there’s been some lows as well that I think are going to be the ones that we reflect on the most going forward. But it’s been good overall

“Especially the second half I would say, you know, Austria onwards, having a few good points races has been very cool.”

He also highlighted the point at which he felt both he and the car started to click.

“Yeah, I mean, there’s stuff that, honestly, even at the start of the year that was already quite good,” Lawson said.

“I think at the start there was no question of if we were going to have a good result. It wasn’t we were struggling that much, but I think it was just the consistency trying to put it together.

“And I think that’s something we found in a few ways, but mainly in some stuff that we found in the car.

“Making it a bit more comfortable for me to drive around Austria. That made a big difference.”

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