Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Liam Lawson says Racing Bulls is starting to run into one of Formula 1's defining 2026 problems, with the team's Japan upgrades making the qualifying trade-off between outright speed and battery use far more visible.
Speaking to media including RacingNews365, the Racing Bulls driver said the core challenge this season is no longer simply extracting maximum cornering performance. Under the new rules, drivers also have to manage how much battery they spend over a lap, especially in qualifying, where pushing harder early can leave them exposed later on.
"I think the main thing here is that there is quite a big difference, and a balance between how much you extract performance-wise through the corners, on the throttle," Lawson said. "Especially when it comes to qualifying versus how much battery you are using, and that has been the big difficulty for us as drivers to get around this year."
That balance can produce a counter-intuitive result. Lawson said a driver can feel quicker through the corners yet end up slower by the end of the lap because the extra attack has drained too much energy.
"Quite often, you end up going faster through the corners and then slower over the lap because you've used more battery and finding that balance is quite difficult," he said.
Lawson explained that Racing Bulls had initially been less exposed to the issue than the leading teams because its car carried less downforce and therefore did not stress the same limit as much. The frontrunners, he said, were always more vulnerable because they are faster and generate more load.
That has started to change as Racing Bulls has improved. After the team introduced upgrades at Suzuka, Lawson said the same energy-management headache that had been more obvious at the front began to appear on his own car as well.
"But it is definitely something that as we get quicker, we are finding it more, and I personally think that in Japan, it was becoming more of a topic," Lawson said.
That makes Racing Bulls part of a broader 2026 story just as the FIA prepares changes for Miami aimed at easing a phenomenon that has frustrated teams, drivers and fans alike. For Lawson, the shift is a sign that as Racing Bulls closes in on more performance, simply finding extra speed is not enough if the car cannot use its energy over a qualifying lap in the right places.