The Kiwi secured his second consecutive Q3 appearance and third of the 2026 season, ending qualifying just one place behind the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar as Racing Bulls placed both cars in the top 10 once again.
Should Lawson convert his starting position into another points finish on Sunday, it would mark his fourth consecutive race in the points, making him the first New Zealander since Denny Hulme in 1973 to achieve the feat.
Lawson has looked competitive throughout the Spielberg weekend and backed up ninth in final practice by delivering another clean qualifying performance as Racing Bulls again emerged as the best of the midfield, even finishing as high as fourth in the first part of qualifying.
The result came despite several rival teams introducing upgrade packages for the Austrian weekend, something Lawson admitted had been a key benchmark for the team.
“Yeah very happy. It’s been a good day, a good weekend so far,” Lawson said.
“I think a few teams came here with some upgrades and we were definitely curious to see how we would compare to them. But we still managed to put both cars in Q3, and that’s very strong.”
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Teammate Arvid Lindblad joined Lawson in the final part of qualifying, giving Racing Bulls another double Q3 appearance after the pair qualified ninth and 10th respectively.
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Lawson also finished just 0.052s behind his former teammate Hadjar, with Racing Bulls locking out the front of the midfield behind the leading four teams.
The team revealed it made minor setup changes ahead of qualifying to improve balance through the corners after a productive final practice session, before adopting an aggressive tyre strategy in Q1 by using two new sets of soft tyres to ensure both cars progressed comfortably.
From there, Lawson and Lindblad each used one scrubbed and one new set of soft tyres through Q2 and Q3, with the team describing the session as well executed after both drivers finished ahead of the rest of the midfield.
Head of trackside engineering Mattia Spini said the result reflected the work completed throughout Saturday.
“Overall, it has been a positive Saturday for the team here in Austria,” Spini said.
“With high track evolution and driver progression expected, we elected to use two new sets of soft tyres in Q1 to make sure we progressed cleanly into Q2.
“In both Q2 and Q3, we used one scrubbed and one new set of Soft tyres. Both cars made it through to Q3 and finished ahead of the rest of the midfield, which is a strong result and reflects a well-executed session from the team.
“Our focus now turns to tomorrow’s race. We are expecting some of the highest track and ambient temperatures of the season, which will create several challenges.
“Good preparation overnight will be crucial to make sure we are in a position to fight for points.”
While qualifying pace has been a strength, Lawson acknowledged Racing Bulls still has work to do over a race distance after recent weekends.
“Racing has been a little bit more tricky for us recently. So I’m sure it’s going to be a tough race,” Lawson said.
“But we’ve definitely been focused on trying to improve that, and hopefully we can try and show that tomorrow.”
Lindblad also praised the team after securing another top-10 starting position, saying Racing Bulls had continued its strong recent form.
“It was a positive Saturday. The team has done a really great job once again by giving us a fast and competitive car,” Lindblad said.
“It’s nice to see both cars in Q3, it’s a good team result, so massive credit to them.”
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