Red Bull sent clear Liam Lawson message after US Grand Prix: ‘Another race, another win’

Liam Lawson received glowing praise for his performance at the US Grand Prix, with former F1 star Jolyon Palmer appearing to send a clear message to Red Bull about the New Zealander's future.

The 24-year-old Racing Bulls star continued to strengthen his case for a place on the 2027 grid with another impressive showing in Austin.

F1 HEADLINES: Hamilton Ferrari regret as Elkann visit ramps up Maranello rumour mill

Lawson came home in P9 to finish best of the rest in a fierce midfield battle at COTA, increasing his points tally for the season to 77 in the 2026 Drivers' standings.

It has been a terrific year for the Kiwi star, who also impressed when stepping up to the big Red Bull team for three races to deputise for the injured Isack Hadjar.

With uncertainty still surrounding Red Bull's driver plans for next season, Palmer's post-race assessment was particularly telling, as he not only praised Lawson's performance but also questioned when his future would be confirmed.

Palmer sends clear message over Liam Lawson's Red Bull future

Speaking to Lawson after the race on F1 TV, Palmer told the Kiwi: "Another race, another win, in the race that you were in, really, the midfield battle."

He then followed up by asking Lawson: "When are you going to be announced for next year?"

The two Racing Bulls seats are among only three to be officially confirmed for 2027, with Haas still deciding on who will be alongside new boy Rafael Camara.

A few short weeks ago there was strong speculation that Lawson could be replaced by the promising young Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov, but those rumours appeared to have subsided significantly.

'Textbook race' from New Zealand star

Now Lawson is driving at the peak of his powers, and he earned high praise from Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane after Sunday's race in Texas.

“It was a textbook race from Liam; he controlled the gap to Pierre [Gasly] throughout and was driving well within himself and the car," he said.

Permane had earlier told Lawson he had driven a "perfect, perfect weekend" on team radio just after the 56-lap race had finished.

As for Lawson himself, he is in confident mood as he looks forward to the Mexican Grand Prix this coming weekend.

“I feel good. I felt good all weekend and am enjoying driving this car. It’s in a great place at the moment,” he said.

“So excited to go to some more unique tracks now. Obviously with Mexico, very high altitude and Brazil probably going to be quite bumpy I’m guessing again, but we’re in a good place.”

READ MORE: Jeremy Clarkson slammed for 'completely unacceptable' comments at US Grand Prix

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

View full biography