Alan Permane has no doubt about Liam Lawson's talents.

      Alan Permain, team principal of Racing Bulls, has no doubts about Liam Lawson's talents, but believes the New Zealand driver needs help to fully realize his potential.

      At the end of the past season Lawson finished 14th in the championship, behind both his teammate Isaac Hadjar and Oliver Bearman, who could also be considered a Formula 1 rookie, since he was completing his first full season with Haas.

      Compared to them Liam does have somewhat more experience, but his career has been quite nonlinear, and the fact that he did not live up to the expectations placed on him at Red Bull Racing — and was returned to the Faenza team after just the first two races of the season — probably affected his confidence.

      He did not start scoring points immediately, but gradually improved and finished fifth at the Baku round — that result remained his best achievement of the past season.

      Lawson will continue to race for the Faenza team in 2026, and Permain has no doubts about the 23‑year‑old driver.

      “I see some signs of real talent in him,” the experienced British specialist is quoted as saying by F1i.com. “I think all of us, together with Liam, should try to determine what allowed him to perform very well in some cases, and there were quite a few such cases. He had great races in Austria and Hungary, performed excellently in qualifying and the race in Baku, and we need to understand what exactly worked then. We need to analyze his entire season in detail.

      Together with his race engineer, Liam spent long hours on the simulator, trying to find the right approach to setting up the suspension and steering. There were moments when he was unhappy with the balance, when he felt uncomfortable behind the wheel.

      They managed to sort some things out; we applied the settings they found in Monaco, and that weekend went very well. Then we continued to use the same approach through to the Austrian Grand Prix, and he was very happy with the car.”

      It was in Austria that Lawson beat his teammate Isaac Hadjar for the first time, and according to Permain, that was something of a turning point.

      “Working on the car went in the direction Liam indicated, and that was a turning point,” Permain emphasized. “Together with his race engineer he led that process, and as a result he became much more comfortable behind the wheel. Overall, Liam has huge talent. It also showed itself in the two most difficult qualifying sessions of the season for us, in Las Vegas and Baku, which were held on rather slippery tracks. In both cases he coped excellently.

      Of course there are areas where he can improve, and Liam continues to work hard, and we are helping him with that.”

      Lawson's new teammate next season will be rookie Arvid Lindblad, a driver from Red Bull's junior program, and, according to Permain, the New Zealander will face a real test because the team expects him to deliver more consistent results.