The Racing Bulls driver has scored in five of the opening six rounds across sprint and grand prix formats, with his Monaco result matching the best finish of his F1 career and underlining his progress after a stop-start path to F1.
Lawson’s fifth place in Monte Carlo came after a dramatic build-up to the race, with a technical issue leaving his car in pieces before the start and forcing the team into a major repair job just to get him to the grid.
The New Zealander said that made the result feel very different to his previous fifth place in Baku last season.
“It was very different, honestly,” he said.
“Monaco is very special — especially when we started the weekend, we weren’t actually very competitive and we changed so much on the car over the weekend.
“And then the Sunday was just an emotional rollercoaster. I didn’t think I was going to race. I got to the garage and the car was in pieces where it had an issue, and the team did an amazing job to put it together.
“We survived, which at the moment I think is a bit of what’s been working for us.”
Lawson’s result moved him to 26 points after six race weekends, putting him within 12 points of his total from the entire 2025 season.
Asked in Barcelona whether his form had put his name back in the frame for a top drive, Lawson said his improvement had come through experience and a more stable start to the campaign.
“I think you always learn, you always get better. So for sure I’m in a better place than I’ve ever been in Formula 1,” he said.
“But I think also the last couple of years, the way I came into Formula 1 was quite unique as well, at the back end of both seasons, of ’23 and ’24.
“So last year was, I guess, first full season, but obviously started very rocky. And I think this year had a proper pre-season.
“And with new cars, obviously we’re all working on learning them. I think we’ve done a good job and I’ve learned a lot from the last couple of years as well and I feel like I’ve been able to put that to use this year.”
The Monaco double points finish with rookie team-mate Arvid Lindblad was Racing Bulls’ first of the season, while Lawson’s own performance continued his run as the team’s leading scorer.
Lawson also praised the team’s power unit package ahead of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, following reports it had emerged as the sport’s strongest, adding it had performed well despite being a new project for 2026.
“I think we have a good power unit for sure,” he said.
“I think we’ve done maybe [more than] what people expected, even maybe what we expected at the start, coming in with a brand-new power unit, new team to build that.
“And I think HPP (Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains) has done an incredible job and we have a very competitive power unit.
“It’s hard to know who’s got the actual best. Everybody has different levels of efficiency with downforce and stuff like this, and even within teams you see differences sometimes on race weekends and straight-line performance and stuff.
“So I don’t personally know if we actually have the best, but I just know it’s very good. But I think obviously other teams also have very good power units.”
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