Liam Lawson has capped off a strong Spanish Grand Prix weekend with a sixth-place finish in Madrid, securing his best result for Red Bull and setting a new Formula 1 points record for a New Zealand driver.
Starting eighth at the new Madring circuit, Lawson gained two positions across the 57-lap race to collect eight valuable championship points in what is expected to be his final appearance deputising for the injured Isack Hadjar.
The result lifts the 24-year-old to 59 points for the season, surpassing Denny Hulme’s previous benchmark of 51 from his World Championship-winning 1967 campaign.
While the vastly different points systems between the two eras make a direct comparison difficult, Lawson’s achievement adds another milestone to an increasingly impressive 2026 campaign.
Sixth also improves on the seventh-place finish he recorded for Red Bull at Zandvoort last month and came at the end of a weekend in which the Kiwi remained inside the top 10 throughout every session.
“I think it was a decent race. We had good speed through parts of it, but I just think we weren’t on the ideal strategy today,” Lawson said.
“We went for the alternate strategy, starting on the Hards. At the start I lost the position to Franco and lost a lot of time as it was, but by the time I cleared him the VSC came out, and they’d boxed, so it was just tricky from there.
“The start was exciting, and I had to take a lot of risks to get the move done on Franco because it’s quite difficult to overtake here. It would’ve been nice to start a bit higher, but considering where we did start, the result today was good, and I’m happy we managed to gain two places in the Race.
“I’m much more confident in the car this week; we’ve made a couple of great steps, so there are some good things to take away from the weekend.”
Lawson started on the hard compound as Red Bull opted for an alternative strategy, while several of the leading contenders began on either mediums or softs.
The Kiwi initially lost ground to Alpine’s Franco Colapinto but was able to get ahead of Oscar Piastri, whose McLaren sustained front-wing damage during a hectic opening lap. Lewis Hamilton’s early brake problems helped Lawson move into seventh before the Ferrari was eventually retired after just seven laps.
With overtaking proving difficult around the new Madrid street circuit, Lawson spent the opening phase tucked behind Colapinto before finally finding his way through on Lap 10.
A late-braking move into Turn 5 put the Red Bull ahead and allowed Lawson to begin building a gap.
However, the complexion of the race changed four laps later when Lance Stroll stopped after suffering brake trouble, triggering a Virtual Safety Car.
Several of Lawson’s rivals immediately took advantage of the reduced-speed period to pit, while Red Bull elected to leave the Kiwi out and extend his opening stint on the hard tyres.
The strategy briefly moved Lawson further up the order, and George Russell’s second stop later in the race elevated him to fifth. Russell eventually caught Lawson on fresher rubber, but the Kiwi held the Mercedes behind for several laps before conceding the position.
Attention then turned to Piastri, who had recovered from his early damage and was closing rapidly on Lawson before McLaren attempted an undercut on Lap 43. A slower stop for the Australian, which included adjustments to his damaged front wing, gave Lawson some breathing room.
Red Bull brought Lawson in two laps later, with the Kiwi returning to the circuit in seventh and with Pierre Gasly ahead still needing to complete his own stop.
Rather than waiting for the Alpine to pit, Lawson took matters into his own hands, passing Gasly on Lap 55 to secure sixth place on the road. From there, he brought the RB22 safely home to complete his strongest Grand Prix result since returning to Red Bull.
Team Principal Laurent Mekies praised Lawson’s performance, particularly his management of the difficult opening stint.
“It was also a strong race and some good points from Liam. It certainly wasn’t easy towards the end of his first stint on worn Hard tyres, but he kept his cool and showed good pace in the final stint.”
At the front, Kimi Antonelli took his eighth victory of the season after a Virtual Safety Car swung the race away from polesitter Lando Norris.
Norris controlled the opening stages before the timing of the VSC allowed Antonelli and Max Verstappen to make significantly cheaper pit stops. A slow stop once racing returned compounded Norris’ problems and dropped the McLaren behind both drivers.
Antonelli eventually inherited the outright lead once Charles Leclerc, who had stayed out in the hope of another Safety Car intervention, made his stop on Lap 48.
The Mercedes driver controlled the closing stages to take victory, while Verstappen resisted late pressure from Norris to finish second and complete a double top-six result for Red Bull.
Norris settled for third, with Leclerc fourth and Russell fifth ahead of Lawson.
Colapinto finished seventh for Alpine, followed by Piastri, Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg, who completed the points-paying positions.
For Lawson, however, sixth place represented another encouraging step during his temporary return to Red Bull.
After finishing seventh at Zandvoort and enduring a difficult Monza Grand Prix, Madrid delivered his strongest result of the three-race stint and another valuable opportunity to demonstrate his capabilities as his future beyond 2026 remains undecided.
Formula 1 now takes a weekend off before heading to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Lawson is expected to return to Racing Bulls if Hadjar is cleared to race.
Header Image: Clive Mason/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool
