Liam Lawson has qualified third for a Formula 1 race exactly once, and it happened at Baku. It is still the best grid slot of his career by two places.
Two starts, ten points, a best finish of fifth. Both of those numbers come from the same afternoon.
The best Saturday of his career, and a quieter follow-up
2025 is the weekend the record is built on. Third on the grid at a circuit where qualifying is most of the battle, fifth at the flag, ten points. No other Grand Prix has given him a grid slot better than fifth, and only one other race has matched that fifth place as a finishing position.
What makes it stand out more is the car. He was in the Racing Bulls that weekend, not the senior team, and he put it ahead of both Ferraris and both McLarens on Saturday.
2026 was a stranger season to read. He spent three rounds in the second Red Bull from the Dutch Grand Prix onwards, then found himself back in the junior car for Baku when Isack Hadjar returned. He qualified eleventh and finished twelfth, the first Azerbaijan weekend he has left without a point.
Liam Lawson's Azerbaijan GP record year by year
Every Azerbaijan Grand Prix start, with the grid slot it came from and what it was worth.
| Season | Grid | Finish | Points | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 | P5 | 10 | Racing Bulls |
| 2026 | 11 | P12 | 0 | Racing Bulls |
One weekend that still sets the bar
No win, no podium, no pole and no fastest lap, and a two-race record where one afternoon supplies the entire total. He finished both, which on a day that retired seven cars is not nothing.
The thing worth watching is the qualifying gap. Third in 2025 and eleventh in 2026 in nominally the same team's car is a wide spread for one circuit, and at Azerbaijan the grid slot has decided almost everything about his Sunday both times.
