Liam Lawson is aware that Racing Bulls could be caught out by the stringent energy management demands at the season-opening Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Lawson endured a difficult 2025 campaign after being demoted back to the sister Red Bull outfit just two races into last season.
Paired up with rookie Arvid Lindblad for the sport’s latest era, this year, however, is the perfect opportunity for the Kiwi driver to regain his mojo and reputation in the paddock.
That said, the 24-year-old is acutely aware that the inherent characteristics of the 2026 cars could hamper his Australian GP ambitions.
The new power units have stringent energy recovery demands – a task augmented in difficulty owing to the layout of the Albert Park Circuit.
With a 50-50 split between electric and ICE propulsion, an empty battery could mean Lawson would be starved of a whopping 400+ horsepower.
Long straights and a lack of big braking zones would mean that the Faenza-based team will have to get their energy settings absolutely right to avoid excruciating power loss, especially through the flat out Turn 6 to Turn 11 complex.
Liam Lawson expands on ‘promising’ Australian GP outlook
Despite this challenge, Lawson revealed that the team has optimised the car and its power unit settings in the build up to Qualifying, later today.
“It was a pretty decent day, we completed pretty much everything we wanted to, and learned a lot from it as well,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“It is promising, but we still have a lot of work to do, and we’ll analyse overnight, but there is definitely more I’m going to have to learn.
“There’s a lot more we have to do behind the wheel, like driving the car, which is quite busy, and there are a few new things we have to make sure we are doing correctly.
“To be honest, it doesn’t feel like we have to do a huge amount. The balance isn’t miles away, which is a really good sign to come out with a decent car, but obviously, everyone is going to be progressing quite quickly, so we need to do the same.”
The former Red Bull driver finished the opening two Practice sessions of the weekend in 13th, wrapping up FP3, earlier today, in P12.
Naturally, this isn’t a good sign in terms of competitiveness but the silver lining for him would be consistency, which would be key under the new regulations.
This is something he would like to bank on, but did reveal how he and the team are both acutely aware that the “punishing” layout of the Albert Park could always catch them out.
“On a track like this, it is very challenging, because this is one of the hardest tracks on energy, and on the long runs and even in short runs, if you get it slightly wrong, it is very punishing on lap-time, so it is definitely something we’re trying to optimise,” Lawson explained.
“We think we’ve done a good job, but there is more to optimise.
“We were trying a lot of different things throughout the runs, making switch changes, and we had a lot of VSC practice, so restarts, practice starts, pit-stops, exits, entries, it was good to try them all.”
Lawson has overcome the challenge of qualifying already, lining up eighth for the race ahead of team-mate Arvid Lindblad.
READ MORE – Liam Lawson confirms 2026 F1 cars ‘not enjoyable’ to drive
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